Piecing The Shattered Dragon
by fika1603
Summary: Seto's latest attitude leaves the rest of the world puzzled. And then, someone was assigned to help the CEO and understand what was going on...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: mini sequel to Dik, but the focus of the fic has changed. however, the summary about Dik is slotted somewhere in the fic, so no worries if you haven't read it. **

**enjoy my new fic, yea (:**

**in this first chap, we'll pay a little visit to Domino High...**

* * *

The gang groaned as they realised the door leading to the school's rooftop was locked for the first time in all their years at Domino High. Joey tried to kick the door down, but only ended up hurting his toe. As he hopped about helplessly in circles, Tristan attempted to budge the door open one last time before finally giving up.

"I can't believe they locked it!" Tristan cried out incredulously. "They've never locked it. As in, never. So why the heck is it locked on a fine sunny day like today?"

Joey stopped hopping and settled for standing still. He winced. If that was supposed to lessen the pain, he was sorely mistaken. "Yeah," he chimed in, one hand gripping Yugi's shoulder for support. "We've been having lunch at the rooftop for ages. They can't do this to us."

Tea sighed as she proceeded to sit on the steps. "Well, we didn't exactly have our names on the roof, so we can't claim it as our own."

"Actually, we did," Joey objected too happily for his own good. At his friends' quizzical look, he corrected himself sheepishly, "I mean, I did. I drew a smiley on one of the walls. That smiley is my trademark, so that makes the roof mine."

Tea glanced skywards and sighed deeply as she let her head drop into her hands. Yugi merely blinked at Joey, unsure whether to be impressed or not with his friend's action.

"Not… giving… up," they heard Tristan wheeze as he tugged harder at the door. "Must… open… door."

Joey cracked up as he replied as robot-like as possible. "Help. Us. Tristan. Is. A. Zombie. Who. Talks. Like. This."

That had Tea and Yugi doubling over with laughter as well. To add to that, Tristan even had the temerity to shoot back, "You. Sound. Stu. Pid. Joe. Eee."

"As if you sound like Einstein!" Joey snorted, waving his hand dismissively in his friend's direction.

To his surprise, Tristan crowed, "Oh yeah! I win! Wheeler just can't keep up with the likes of my style!" He danced around for a while, before deciding to try the door again. Just then, the heavy, metal double doors swung open so hard, it smacked Tristan in the face.

A famous annoying voice soured the entire atmosphere, "Oh great. Dorkfest."

The gang stared up to see a towering Seto Kaiba clad in his uniform peering down at them. They caught a sneak peek of the still-buzzing KaibaCorp helicopter behind the CEO. Last time they checked, he was no longer entitled to compulsory attendance at Domino High. So what the heck was he doing here?

Somehow, the blue-eyed brunette seemed to read their mind. Rolling his eyes, he said curtly, "Technically, I'm still a student here. So shut your gaping mouths and get out of my way. I'd like to head to class."

Joey was quick to come up with a rejoinder. "Yeah well, technically, no student comes here on a helicopter."

Seto sneered. "I secured permission to use the rooftop. So I can come by in whatever I want. Next time, I'll come in a jetpack and have the smoke blow in your face."

The gang watched wordlessly as the CEO skulked away from them, one hand tightly gripping his silver briefcase that he called a school-cum-office bag. Three-quarter of the time he ignored the going-ons in class and just sat at the back on his own, self-entertained by his office work. The only time he did bother to talk to people was to ask them to clear the path for him. He was civil, but not friendly. Talk about being anti-social.

Tristan and Joey seethed after him, one hurting from the impact of the door, the other stinging from the words. Tea and Yugi watched them carefully. They made a mental note to restrain their two more proactive friends if they ever decided to go offensive. When Tristan turned away and sighed in frustration while vigorously rubbing his head, the two of them heaved a sigh of relief too. That was, until they caught sight of Joey sprinting after Kaiba and launching himself on top of him.

XO XO XO XO

_Just my luck,_ Seto thought contritely. _The moment I step back into school, and guess who are the first few faces I see? The geek squad._

To be honest, he was exhausted with the piling work at the office. It was ironic, because usually the president of a major corporation dish out the workload. Unfortunately for him, he was the president, he was the inventor, he was the tester, and he was the overall executive to oversee the finances of his company. One thing that was nagging at him was the discrepancy in the accounts. Worse still, the accounting team had no idea where the discrepancy originated. That led him to flying out to every single country where Kaiba Corporation had set up office in to personally check in on his staff.

School was not compulsory for him – he knew more than the teachers, so waking up in the early morning to drag himself to school was a complete waste of time. But once in a while when he just wanted to lead a normal life as a nineteen-year-old CEO could ever have, he dropped by for a school day. That was precisely why he touched down in Domino High all the way from Switzerland.

"AARGHH!"

Seto barely had time to react when a heavy weight latched itself to his back. Thinking quickly, Seto dropped his briefcase with a loud thud on the cement floor, and using his assailant's momentum, flipped himself over. His blond attacker hit the floor hard.

"Ouch! Man… my back…" he groaned.

Seto casually brushed the shoulder of his uniform a few times before picking up his briefcase and continued on his way. "Stop proving yourself to me how much of a loser you are, Wheeler. I am perfectly aware of that."

Joey slowly got back to his feet and ran after Kaiba, stopping directly in front of him. Jabbing a finger on his nemesis's chest, he remarked stubbornly, "No go, richboy. Now's the time to settle all you've done to me, you cre-"

"Creep," Seto finished for him. He pushed Joey aside harshly. The blond guy crashed to the floor again. "Come up with a new vocab, Wheeler. And who knows, maybe the monkey near the zoo gate might be impressed."

"That's it!" Joey yelled out from where he was seated. "You think just cos you're filthy rich and had a lousy past, you have the rights to treat people like this? Guess what, moneybags! You ain't the only one with a bad past! Thousands of others do too, but are they a pain in the ass like you?"

Seto stopped, turned back and narrowed his eyes at Joey. "Shut up, Wheeler. You weren't forced to fend for yourself at a young age. You didn't even have a younger sibling to take care of, per se. Your mother does that for you, doesn't she?"

"You've no rights to say what you said, Kaiba!" Joey shot back heatedly. How much he hated this guy. "You were never separated from Mokuba. You guys were always together. My own mum took Serenity away from me for years! Not once did she ever check in on me. Losing both your parents seem so much better than having parents that are always at loggerheads."

"Try having my stepfather as your father," Seto spat. He had enough of this argument. The mutt was just trying to fish him until he lose his temper outwardly and engage in a brawl with him. Not that he would ever fall for that trick. "Then you can stop complaining about your sad family history. I've had it rough, Wheeler. But I don't go around whining about it and trying to piss the person I don't like. Now stop bothering me before I get my guards to hole you up in some cage like some rabies-infested dog."

XO XO XO XO

Tea sneaked a furtive glance at Joey, who was seated not too far from her. The blond was furiously scribbling something on the table, and she could bet her life on it that it was not Economics. Probably one of his silly but crude drawings about teaching Kaiba a lesson, she thought amusedly as she turned to see what her other friends were up to. All four of them had opted to take Economics because it had seemed the most comprehensible subject, but then it turned out that neither of them liked or understood it very well. Regardless, they made do with the Economics lesson and considered it their 'free' period.

Yugi was taking sneak peeks at his new cards below his desk. A new set had arrived, and naturally, other than Kaiba, he was the only one to ever accumulate all the latest cards. But unlike Kaiba, Yugi treasured each cards well, adamant that there must be a way to put them to give him advantage in a duel. Those same cards that Yugi cherish, well, Kaiba happily discarded. He looked up, caught sight of Tea looking in his direction and gave a little wave. He inclined his head in the teacher's direction and made the gesture of going to sleep. Tea stifled a giggle. She did not blame him; Mrs Sakaki was boring. Never mind the fact that the rest of the school nicknamed her Mrs Sadako for the way she styled her hair.

Beside her, Tristan was fast asleep. One good thing about having a teacher whose hair covered almost her entire face was that she would not catch you sleeping. Ever. Tea, restless as ever, somehow found herself turning her attention to the back. The back row was graciously unoccupied by anyone save for an arrogant CEO that, while winning himself an army of admirers and enviers, opted for seclusion from the outside world.

Tea blamed the boringness of the lesson when she found herself intently studying Seto Kaiba. The lean young man was surprisingly not doing anything, be it related to the lesson or work. Instead, he was hunched forward, facing downwards on his table and twiddling his thumbs. Occasionally he glanced out of the window, letting the passing breeze blow back his hair gently. Tea frowned. Was this his way of relaxing?

Somehow, she found herself wondering, _Gee, Kaiba always looks so uptight, even when he's supposed to be relaxing. At least, I'm assuming he's relaxing right now. Can't the guy loosen up a bit?_

"Miss Gardner."

I wonder if he's like this even at home, with Mokuba. If that's the case, man, I really salute the little guy for putting up with a brother like that.

"Miss Gardner."

A pair of cold blue eyes looked up and met hers. Shocked, Tea quickly turned away and found Mrs Sakaki bending down over her desk. She almost yelped in surprise. The kids were apt in nicknaming their teacher.

"Y-Yes Mrs Sadako, I mean, Mrs Sakaki?" Tea blabbered.

Mrs Sakaki pointed to the whiteboard with her green marker. "Do you mind explaining to the class about the basic concept of macro-economy? You have read the textbook, right?"

Oh great. How was she going to get out of this one? Tea willed her brain to think up of a solution quickly. Finally banking in on luck, she put on her most guilty and apologetic voice and fibbed, "I did but I didn't understand it at all."

Mrs Sakaki pushed herself up from Tea's table and swiveled her head in wiper mode. The entire class suddenly seemed engrossed in their textbook. Only one student appeared unaffected by the whole deal.

"Mr Kaiba, I'm sure you have a very precise understanding of macro-economy?"

All heads turned back to look at him. The richest kid in the classroom – and incidentally Domino City and third richest in the entire country – regarded their teacher with a cool stare. Then, to everyone's surprise, he shrugged and leant back into his chair. To add to the insult, he inwardly averted his gaze and let it land in the lush green field outside. Murmurs of "way to go" and "cool move" broke out from among the students. Mrs Sakaki meanwhile just looked flustered – or harried, seeing she was raking at her hair wildly – at being treated like that by her own student.

Luckily for her, the bell rang, signaling the end of the grueling school day. The students barely completed their thank yous before they dashed out of the classroom to freedom.

XO XO XO XO

"Is it just me, or is Kaiba being excessively egoistic today?" Tea randomly raised the question to her friends.

Joey snorted in annoyance. "Tea, his ego's bigger than even Japan itself. That makes him egoistical every single day."

"Actually, I think Tea's right," Yugi chimed in as he sipped his soda. "Kaiba's being himself too much today."

Tristan and Joey gave him a blank look. Yugi caught their gazes and explained slowly, "What I mean is, Kaiba's too irritable and rude today for even himself. Come on, we all know how Kaiba is. Joey, you're used to being insulted by him, but today's insult was too overboard even for Kaiba. And in the classroom. Usually he's civil with the teachers, isn't he?"

That got the gang thinking. Kaiba was being too… Kaiba. Tea thought back to the scene in the classroom, when Kaiba looked up and caught her staring at him. The coldness in his eyes was not the usual coldness she was accustomed to seeing – the coldness that radiated stubbornness and egoism. At least, that coldness was alive. The coldness she saw was lifeless.


	2. Chapter 2

Seto looked around. Satisfied that there was nobody around, he placed his briefcase on the cement floor and lay down, resting his head on the metal. He pressed his eyes shut, adamant to block out any more irritating thoughts that had been plaguing his mind for the past week. He smiled slightly as he felt the warmth of the sun heating up his skin. Once in a while, it felt great to take a break from the demands of work. He got up and rested himself against the mesh wire fencing at the rooftop. He glanced down to see the rest of the school streaming out of the compound.

Seto peered at the clear blue sky and sighed inwardly. Where is his helicopter? He had his plans for the day well thought out. In the morning, he would attend school. After which he would quickly drop by one of his company's branch in Southeast Asia. The location depended on how much time he could spare. If possible, he wanted the entire journey to last not more than four hours.

He clicked open his briefcase and dragged a bottle out. He unscrewed the cap, shook two pills out and swallowed it hard without water. He resisted the urge to gag. The pills were bitter, but he had no choice but to consume it anyway.

While waiting for his helicopter to arrive (he made a mental note to give the pilot in charge of the helicopter one hell of a colourful warning afterwards), he found his mind drifting back to the scene in the classroom. Yugi's so-called girlfriend was staring at him throughout the entire lesson. Tea Gardner. He frowned as he thought back to the incident a few months back, when he almost lost Mokuba to Death and the court. Was Gardner still seriously treating him like a friend?

He remembered clearly what he told her back then, "You're a good person, Tea. Don't waste it on a person like me."

Shouldn't that have settled the issue that they were nowhere near friends? They had only agreed to work together for his brother's sake. She was the one who extended the temporary friendship which would last as long as Mokuba was still not awake. Of course, after the entire ordeal, he had been relatively nice to them and given them gifts that Mokuba chose but he paid for. He even gave them tickets to his new ride. What was it with these geeks treating those gifts as tokens from a friend rather than compensation for someone who had grudgingly troubled them?

A sudden gust of wind struck him out of his stupor. Leaping to his feet with his briefcase in hand, he briskly strode over to the ladder enabling him to enter his helicopter. As usual, his right-hand man, Roland, was waiting in the helicopter. Seto quickly set his briefcase down and headed for the cockpit.

"I'm piloting," he ordered as he snapped on his radio headset. He activated the GPS system and brought the helicopter flying back into the sky, heading for the Equator.

XO XO XO XO

Another schoolday over and done with, she sighed as she slowly made her way home. It was drizzling, but she welcomed the fine drops of rain. She always liked light showers like this one; it was refreshing, what more with the cool breeze blowing in. of course, a sunny day would be great as well, especially if there was some activities going on, like swimming.

She thought she heard footsteps coming after her. She paused and listened again. Probably her imagination. She hastened her steps, and then again she heard the footsteps. This time round, she did turn around to see the culprit.

"Mokuba! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed as her hand flew to her chest. "You almost gave me a shock!"

Seto's younger brother winced in guilt. He pointed to his shoe. "Sorry, Tea. I was about to call out for you, but then my laces came undone so I had to tie them. You were walking so fast so I had to catch up."

Tea smiled as she waited for Mokuba to catch up with her. Within seconds, the younger Kaiba was already walking beside her, beaming. For a moment, Tea wondered if he was the one to skip school this time round. They neared a bench and Tea suggested that they stop by there to chat for a while.

"Actually, Tea," Mokuba started, glancing around nervously. "I need to ask you something. And I get the feeling I'll end up telling you something. Can you promise me that you won't say anything to anyone?"

"Alright, Mokuba," Tea agreed. What in the world could be so secretive?

"Is.. well, is Seto being obnoxious today?" he hesitated. "As in, more proud than usual or something?"

Deep down, Tea chuckled. Even Mokuba thought his brother was obnoxious. However, outwardly she said slowly, "I…guess so. I mean, he and Joey exchanged insults. But the way Kaiba spoke to Joey was harsher than usual. And in class, well, he totally gave the holier-than-thou attitude with our teacher."

Mokuba groaned as he put his head in his hands. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Tea frowned, confused. "Why? What's wrong with Kaiba?"

"I never should have forced Seto to go for that consultation with the psychologist," Mokuba wailed miserably. "I thought it was gonna help him get over his issues, but he's just becoming worse."

Tea was completely lost. "Why does Kaiba need to see a psychologist? I mean, other than his obnoxious attitude, he's one of the most mature guys I've ever came across."

"Not really," Mokuba replied darkly. He appeared uncomfortable with what he was about to share. "Seto's… the way he is cos he feels insecure about himself. I never noticed it before, but I do now. I know you'd probably be surprised. But really, Seto's insecurities somehow led to his obsession of being the best in everything he does. That's why everytime he's threatened he builds walls around him.

"I thought that maybe the psychologist can get Seto to break down a few of those walls. But when one wall falls, he creates two more." Mokuba paused for a while before speaking in a meek voice, "I don't want Big Brother to end up imprisoning himself."

Tea stared at Mokuba. She felt bad for him for having to put up with a brother like that. _I thought Kaiba was on his way to changing,_ the little voice in her head sounded disappointed. _But he ended up colder than before. Poor Mokuba. Does Kaiba know how much he's hurting his brother?_

She reached out and gave the boy a quick hug. "Don't worry, Mokuba. I'm sure your brother knows what he's doing." _A lie, I know. But I can't bear to see Mokuba like this._

Mokuba shook his head defiantly. "No he doesn't. I've tried to reach out to him, but some walls he just refused to bring down." He lifted his teary eyes to meet Tea's. "Tea, can you help me?"

"H-Help you how?"

"Tea, please reach out to my brother. Get him to break down all his walls." Mokuba sounded so desperate, it broke her heart. "Please. I want Seto to be able to fulfill his promise to change. Please Tea."

Tea looked around, unsure. This was no small task. She knew how stubborn Kaiba was. To be able to completely reach out to him, she needed a miracle. The Prince Of Egypt theme song suddenly played in her mind: _there can be miracles, when you believe…_

She quickly shook her head. Where did that song come from, anyway? She had not heard the song in a long time. She gazed at Mokuba's expectant features for a while. Finally, she sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, Mokuba," Tea hoped she would not regret those words sooner or later. "I'll try."

_I'm gonna make Kaiba realize about this whole deal and how much hope he's planted in his brother,_ her willpower suddenly kicked in. _Whatever it takes, I'll do it._


	3. Chapter 3

He pushed the door open quietly and stuck his head in. The only source of light in the room came from a small night-light conveniently located beside the dresser. Seto walked over to the dresser, and was about to switch it off. Then he paused. He went over to his brother's sleeping form, and with a small smile, carefully pulled the covers to Mokuba's neck. He gently laid his hand on it and bent down to plant a soft kiss on his brother's forehead. Mokuba stirred, but did not wake up.

"Fourteen and you're still afraid of the dark," Seto murmured as he clicked the night-light off.

The moment Seto closed the door behind him, leaving the room in darkness, Mokuba jumped out of bed and switched the night-light on. He cast a glance at his bedroom door and whispered to himself, "I'm not scared of the dark, Seto. I'm just scared if one day you stop entering my room and care."

XO XO XO XO

"Morning!" Mokuba's cheery voice brightened up the otherwise quiet atmosphere in the dining room.

Seto barely glanced up from his coffee and newspaper. "Morning Mokuba."

Mokuba seated himself across his brother, as usual. He reached out for the sandwich that was already prepared on the table. He sneaked a look at his brother. Seto was still perusing the newspaper. He cleared his throat and attempted to strike a conversation.

"You know what, Seto," he babbled over his second helping of sandwich. "I guess you don't have to keep on seeing Dr Masahi if you don't want to."

"Really? That's good," Seto commented. He folded up the newspaper and reached for his briefcase beside him. "That means I don't have to waste my time visiting some shrink who thinks he knows me better than myself."

_Actually, he does,_ Mokuba thought as he forced the last morsel into his mouth. _Why do you think he gave you those pills?_

"Have you taken your pills, Big Brother?" Mokuba asked just before Seto exited the dining hall.

Seto paused at the hallway. "I don't think I'll need it anymore after this."

"But just finish your prescription, alright Seto?" Mokuba pleaded from where he was seated.

"I told you, Mokuba. I don't need anti-depressants or whatever to keep my emotions in check. I was fine all along."

Mokuba got to his feet and braved himself to speak out to his brother, "Why can't you listen to me for once? Why are you being so stubborn and not wanting to admit that maybe you do need help, Seto?"

Seto did not look back as he answered, his voice dangerously low, "Because I don't need help. I'm going. I'll probably be home late."

Mokuba could barely control his emotions as he watched Seto leave without so much of a proper goodbye. "That's right, Seto! That's all you ever do! Everytime you're faced with your issues, you run away!" He fought back a sob. "Why aren't you letting me help you, Seto?"

XO XO XO XO

Seto sat calmly in the backseat of his limo, his silver briefcase right beside him. He had ordered his driver to cruise slowly along the streets as he decided where to head to: school or the office. Thinking back to Economics lesson yesterday, he opted for the latter. Besides, there was nothing in school that he would miss, anyway.

The sleek black Mercedes limousine pulled up at the entrance of Kaiba Corporation HQ, located just on the urban outskirts of Domino City. He once considered having his entire office building renovated as well, but decided against it. Money could be spent elsewhere and actually benefit people in need. Seto was cold and ruthless, but he was not heartless. But then again, nobody had to know that or the fact that hidden somewhere in the drawers at his office was the blueprint for the foundation he was thinking of setting up one of these days.

He nodded in response to the greetings from the employees that walked past him. Most of them avoid sharing the lift with him and only rode it when they were hard pressed for time. It was not because Seto disliked his employees being around him; it was just that his employees found it unnerving to be in the same place as their boss without saying anything related to work. Technically, Seto had two offices – the main one on the 27th storey (despite the fact that the whole building was 30 storeys high) and a smaller one on the 18th storey. The latter was reserved for those days when he just popped by the office to settle some trivial issues. On normal days, he enjoyed the privacy of having the entire 27th floor to himself.

"Anything I have to look through?" he queried his secretary as he passed by her desk.

His secretary promptly handed him a thin stack of files. "Just a few reports, sir. And also the latest financial report that you requested for."

Seto took them and waved her off before he pushed open the French doors to his office. Financial reports every single day. There was only so much a man could endure. But he was left with no choice; either he force himself to study each report, or risk having some stray employee make off with the company's funds.

He loaded his computer and opened the company's financial report that he himself had checked and stored in the computer. He compared the numbers on the computer screen with the one printed in the file. After two pages, he realized how dreadful the whole idea was. Nevertheless, he pressed on to the third page. And that was when he hit jackpot.

He punched a button on his phone, and his secretary came into view on the screen. "Get the entire financial department up to my office. And ask them to bring along their identification cards and ATM cards."

XO XO XO XO

Tea settled into her usual seat and took a peek at the back of the class. She frowned. Kaiba was becoming like Chipsmore cookies – now you see him, now you don't. His relatively usual routine was to attend school for at least a week when he did (which was rarely). But she knew it was less of the routine than it was of the pounding questions in her head that made her question his whereabouts.

_I bet he's at work,_ she told herself as she kept her gaze transfixed on calculus on the whiteboard. _Where else would he be? Unless he has to fly off somewhere?_

She followed her teacher's orders to the class to try out a complex sum in their textbook. Her hand was doodling the numbers correctly, but her mind was wandering off elsewhere. _How am I going to ask Kaiba about it? Shouldn't that be a secret kept in his home? Maybe if I tell him Mokuba spilled it to me, he'd be more forgiving. But won't he scold Mokuba?_

A paper plane landed on her desk. Looking around to see who tossed it, she caught sight of a grinning Joey Wheeler making tiny flying motions with his hands. She shook her head in disbelief. She unfolded the paper plane, took out a red pen and scribbled on it: Don't you guys wanna study properly now that we're graduating next year? Hmmm?

She made sure the teacher was not looking when she tossed the paper plane back to Joey. Tea quickly averted her gaze to her textbook and bit back a smile when she heard the sound of a chair crashing down. Joey must have fallen off in the midst of catching the paper plane. She knew that without so much of a glance at her friend.

But the paper plane triggered an idea in her head. Communications. Sneakily she pulled her handphone out of her bag under her desk, and flipped it open. _Please let it already be in silent mode, _she prayed as the piece of technology started. To her relief, it was. Peering down ever so slightly, she quickly scrolled down until she reached Mokuba's number. With any luck, the little guy had his phone on and with him.

Her fingers pressed the button to start a new SMS message. Looking straight ahead as she pretended to be listening intently to what her teacher was telling them, she put her skills to her test as she typed out the message without so much as looking at the content and spelling before quickly hitting 'Send".

XO XO XO XO

The reply finally came in during lunchtime at the rooftop. Joey and Tristan were too busy arguing about the last piece of chips to even notice what she was up to. Yugi meanwhile had successfully managed to get himself embroiled in the fight when he consumed the last piece without knowing that his two friends were clawing at each other for it.

Tea stared down at the number written on her handphone screen. In the same message, Mokuba had told her that she would have to get past the receptionist and the secretary before his brother decides whether or not he would talk to her.

"But don't get your hopes up," Mokuba had warned in his SMS reply.

"Hey Tea!" Joey called out. "Whaddya have there? If it's some weird stalker, tell me. I feel like throwing a punch."

Tea chuckled. "Nah, it's just Mokuba."

"Moku-man?" Joey suddenly sounded interested. "Everything okay with him?"

"Oh, yeah," Tea lied almost immediately. "He just SMSed in to say that when the school hols come, he wanna spend more of it with us."

"Ohh. Tell Mokuba we miss him, alright?" Yugi interjected.

"Yeah, me too!" Joey chimed in.

"Me three!" Tristan added on.

Tea smiled as she pretended to SMS a reply back to Mokuba. _Sorry for lying, guys. But there's something I gotta do, and I promised Mokuba I won't tell._

_And let's just hope Mr CEO will still be in his office when school ends later._

XO XO XO XO

Seto stared at the prescription bottle still in his briefcase. He cradled it in his hands and contemplated whether to finish off the last few days of medication or to completely abandon them.

_But I feel alright,_ his mind argued_. So what's the point of me taking in something that's not going to help me at all?_

He felt light-headed after giving his entire financial department hell and doling out resignation forms to half of them, forcing them to resign or risk being fired alongside being blacklisted. To add to that, they have to return all the funds that they have managed to embezzle and return them rightfully to the bank by midnight or again risk being blacklisted.

_Fine, maybe one last time,_ he relented as he unscrewed the bottle cap_. Then this stupid thing gets out of my sight._

He was just about to head over to the thermos in the far corner of his office to get a glass of water when the intercom beeped. He clenched his fist, hiding the pills in his hand as he answered his secretary, "Yes?"

"Mr Kaiba, the receptionist reports that there is a certain Miss Tea Gardner who wishes to see you. She claims to know you."

Seto frowned. What the hell was she doing on his office property?

"What does she want?" Seto queried, slightly annoyed.

"She wishes to speak with you," his secretary could detect the annoyance creeping into her employer's voice. "Do I allow her to go up or turn her away?"

Seto was tempted to go for the latter. But then again, it was not everyday a member of the geek squad dropped by. Probably something happened and they were desperate for his help. He snorted. _Go dorks_.

"Tell her to wait for me in the lobby," Seto replied gruffly. Then he changed his mind. "Never mind. Send her up. Give her specific instructions so she doesn't get lost and cause chaos in my building."

"Yes, Mr Kaiba," his secretary clicked off. If she had any inclination to retort that there was no way that his guest would get lost finding his office, since it was re-located to the entire 27th floor, she did not show it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: a HUGE thank you to all my readers! i'm surprised by the number of reviews and alerts! you guys are the best!

if any of you are wondering about the pills that Seto is taking, you'll get your answer here (:

keep all your reviews coming in!

* * *

Tea rode the elevator in silence. It was a simple one – plain walls with an equally plain button pad. She watched the light slowly shifted to the left as the elevator rose to a new storey. Finally, it stopped and chimed open at the 27th floor. Tea stepped out and was visibly greeted by a professional-looking secretary dressed in a crisp white suit. She was pretty, but the seriousness etched onto her features would probably scare suitors away.

The secretary got to her feet and neared the brown-haired girl who was probably five years younger than her. She smiled swiftly and held out a slender hand. "Miss Gardner, I presume? May I have your identification card?"

"Uhh.. okay," Tea fished out her IC and handed it to the secretary.

The secretary caught her gaze and smiled assuringly as she swiped the IC on some scanning machine. "Don't worry, it's just standard security procedure." The light on the machine blinked, and then she removed the card and returned it to Tea. "Knock before you enter."

Tea thanked the nice woman and proceeded to the grand black French doors where a not-so nice man was awaiting her. She knocked promptly twice and stood back as she waited for the signal to enter.

A gruff male voice floated through the door. "Come in."

Tea walked in to see the KaibaCorp CEO dressed in his school uniform leaning back casually in his leather chair. She did not know how he managed to sneer down at her from his seated position, but that was precisely what he did. He gestured to the seat across him, and she graciously took it.

"Can I help you with something, Gardner?" his tone was anything but friendly.

"Actually, I came sort of on Mokuba's request," she started somewhat hesitantly. She could immediately see him tensing up.

"What did he say?" Seto maintained his expressionless attitude.

"We… ran into each other recently, and… well, he told me how worried he was about you. And he.. well, asked me to periodically check on you."

Seto snorted. "What the hell, Gardner. You know Mokuba tends to overreact about me. Is that all?"

Tea stared at him. What was with this guy, anyway? Couldn't he at least appreciate the fact that there are people who care for him?

"No," she replied just as coldly. "Mokuba also told me how you keep promising to change. Or have you obliterated that from your mind just as well?"

Seto stood up so abruptly it actually surprised her. He leaned over his desk and growled, "I don't have to discuss such issues with a stranger. Now get out of my office."

Tea reacted with a mock hurt look on her face. Somehow that seemed to throw Seto off, if only for a split second. By the next second, he was back to his hardened features. "I'm a stranger? I can't believe it. After what you've been through with us?"

Seto gripped her arm tightly and steered her to his door. He ignored the light scent of lavender on her. He blamed aromatherapy theory that his psychologist was crazy about for his lapse in concentration. When he got back to his senses, he kept one hand on her and pulled open the doors with the other. Without so much of a please, he shoved her out.

"I appreciated what you have done for my brother, and I also appreciate the fact that you still look out for him," Seto muttered to her at the door, one hand still holding on to her arm so it appeared that he was sending her out politely. "But I've told you, Gardner. We're not friends."

"But Kaiba –"

"Not another word, Gardner," he glanced over to his secretary who was engrossed in her work. "I believe you know the way out."

"Kaiba, I'm –"

The look Seto gave her was icy enough to actually make her shiver. She stared back into those blue eyes one last time before shakily proceeding to the elevator. Tea kept her face down until the elevator doors closed and she was making her way down the building.

She had only feigned hurt just now. But why was it that right now Kaiba's words had stung her so much?

_But I've told you, Gardner. We're not friends._

_You never said that,_ she recalled, barely aware in her fit of anger that droplets of tears wetted the corners of her eyes. _You said: you're a good person, Tea. Don't waste it on a person like me. Doesn't that mean you left the decision up to me?_

XO XO XO XO

_Such a complete waste of my – whoa._

Seto blindly reached out for the door of his office for support. He shook his head furiously. _All this stress is getting to me,_ he admitted to himself reluctantly. He regained his balance and was about to head back into the recluse of his office when he felt that there was something wrong with him.

"Misa," he called out. His voice was loud enough, but the tone was weak.

His secretary removed the headset from her ear and hurried over to steady her employer. Luckily, her employer was lean enough for her to support his weight as she helped him to the seat nearest to the door in his office. She knelt down beside him and placed a hand on the arm of the chair, "Mr Kaiba, are you alright?"

"I… yeah," he replied weakly. But he could feel his heart pounding wildly for no reason.

His secretary rushed over to the thermos to get a glass of warm water. Seto took it wordlessly. At the same time, he just watched on as his secretary headed to punch some numbers in his phone.

"What are you doing?" he attempted to sound stern, but the way it came out was anything but.

"Roland," she spoke crisply into the phone. "Listen. I need you to get up here. Something's wrong with Mr Kaiba. I don't know. Yeah, I checked his pulse. It was… oh, alright."

Seto stared at her furiously. "Who gave you the rights to call him up?"

She seemed ill-at-ease as she replied. "I'm sorry, Mr Kaiba. But I was panicking and he was the first person I thought of." She glanced around the room. "Have you taken your pills, sir?"

"My what?" he was enraged more of the fact that his somebody other than his brother and Roland knew about the medication he was on.

"Your pills," she repeated. "Roland said it was some sort of vitamins that you have to repeatedly consume." She knew it did not make sense, but that was precisely what her employer's chief of security had told her, and she opted that it was better that she played along with it.

Seto pointed to his desk. She went over to it and rightly enough, two pills laid on top of it. She handed them over to him and he downed it with a large gulp of water. He looked down, the frown on his forehead becoming more pronounced as he forced his breathing to slow down. Soon after, he could feel his heartbeat reverting to normal.

He looked up to his secretary and waved over to the door. "I'll be fine. Get back to work." The moment his secretary was out of his office, he flicked out his handphone and speed-dialled a number. Somebody better had a good explanation for this.

XO XO XO XO

By the time Tea walked out of the lift, her eyes were dried and there were no sign that she had just been thrown out of the office of the CEO. Still, she kept her gaze on the floor, not wanting to meet the eyes of anyone in the building. Then again, nobody seemed to notice. Almost all the employees rushing about were so focused with their task on hand, they probably would not realize if a babe from FHM walked past them.

The only indication she walked past somebody that she knew was when she heard his voice speaking in panic into the phone, "What? Mr Kaiba?! What's wrong with him? Did you check his pulse? Calm down, his pulse is abnormal? Possibly palpitations. Listen, get him to eat his pills. Just say it's his vitamins that he has to continuously consume. Alright."

By the time he finished the conversation, Tea was staring at him in shock. He saw her and knew he was cornered.

"Roland, I overheard your conversation," Tea confronted him. "Kaiba's heartbeat wasn't normal? What's wrong with him?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Roland tried to get out of the sticky situation. He pretended to listen to something on his earpiece. "I'll be right over!" and with that he left Tea staring after him, open-mouthed.

_Something's not right,_ she concluded as she took out her cellphone and dialed a number_. There's something Mokuba's not telling me._

All she got was a busy tone. Tea ended the call in frustration. Why was everyone related to Kaiba being so… frustrating today?

XO XO XO XO

Mokuba looked down at the carpeted floor guiltily. Occasionally, he scratched an ear or glanced surreptitiously at his big brother. His brother, father, guardian and protector all lumped into one was furiously pacing the length of the study.

"You lied, Mokuba," Seto did not raise his voice, but the tone was hard enough to make it sound as if he was yelling at his little brother. He had rushed back home straight from the office and made it clear to his brother they were going to have a discussion. "They weren't anti-depressants, were they?"

"I didn't want you to freak out," Mokuba mumbled.

"So you think it's okay to hide it from me and let me freak out now?" Seto's voice was rising by a notch now. Mokuba wished the ground could swallow him up right away. He hated being on the end of one of Seto's tidal rage. "You think it's okay to not let your brother know that he has some hypertension-like condition and wait until he passes out during an attack before you tell him?"

"It's not like that, Seto!" Mokuba argued. "The doctor said that you can't stress yourself out too much. That was the main reason I brought in Dr Masahi."

"And that quack doctor is another one! Why didn't he tell me directly about my condition instead of going all about as if he knows me better than myself?"

"Because I told him not to," Mokuba added on quietly.

There was silence in the air for a while before Seto spoke in a spookily calm voice, "When did I teach you to lie, Mokuba?" He swiveled his head so that his eyes could bore holes into his brother's. "Tell me. Did I ever teach you to lie?"

Mokuba shook his head slightly, then he settled for keeping his eyes glued to the floor. He jolted and almost jumped out of his skin when his brother roared, "Then why did you have to lie to me of all people?! Didn't you think that I could handle the situation?" Mokuba heard Seto draw in a deep breath before his brother spoke contritely again, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Se – "

"Go to your room." Seto turned his face away so he was not looking at Mokuba.

"I'm sorry…"

"I said, go to your room." Sensing that Mokuba was still glued to the forest green sofa, he said sharply, "Now, Mokuba."

Mokuba scrambled out of the study. At the door, he peered over his shoulder to see his brother. He bit his lip. Sure, maybe there were a few times he had probably done something wrong or hurt his brother. But Seto never lost his temper the way he did now.

Along the way to his room, his phone rang. Mokuba switched it off without looking at the caller. He did not feel like talking to anyone.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: hey guys! once again, i can't say how much i'm grateful to you guys for all the reviews and alerts! everytime i check my inbox to see them pouring in, i feel more inspired to carry on with this fic!**

**anw, this is the chapter where we'll see Seto go ballistic, Joey gets a door slammed in his face - literally - and Tea, well, being Tea...**

**keep those reviews acoming yea! and if there's typos, do point it out too!**

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Seto stopped adjusting his sleeve. He turned to look into the empty dining hall and frowned as he checked his watch. Shouldn't Mokuba already be seated in the midst of breakfast right now? He was not strict with the time for his brother to wake up, but Mokuba had made it a habit to be up latest by eight regardless of whether it was a school day or not. Seto turned back on his heels and hurried up the stairs leading to the main hallway of the second floor. Mokuba's room was just a few rooms short of his, which was located at the end of the wing. To be honest, only the east wing of the room was occupied or used. The western wing was just excess space, so Seto had it converted to some sort of a hangar the last time he had the mansion renovated.

He closed his hand on the doorknob and quietly pushed it open. It was pitch dark, and the curtains were drawn. Seto felt a pang of guilt. Maybe his brother was still mad at him for yesterday.

"Mokuba?" he called out. One hand flicked on the light switch. His eyes widened at the sight of the spotless room. "Mokuba!"

He thundered down into the kitchen, startling his housekeeper who was in the middle of preparing coffee for him. Luckily she had just placed the mug of coffee on the table just in time as her employer startled her by demanding, "Nana, has Mokuba gone out?"

"Mr Kaiba, you almost gave me a heart attack!" the middle-aged housekeeper scolded him. She had come to view her employers as her own sons, especially Mokuba. "He's up? I was up since 5 and I didn't see him around. I went to his room to check on him, but it was empty so I thought he was with you."

"No, Nana," Seto was already punching numbers into his handphone. "He's gone." The other line answered. "I want all the security on guard this morning and last night in the living room now!"

His men promptly assembled at the living room. Roland also reported for the meeting; as chief of security, he had the responsibility of speaking up for his men if needed. As they stood in a line, their eyes followed their employer behind the dark glasses. What a way to kickstart a Saturday morning.

"We swear, Mr Kaiba, we picked nothing up and nothing triggered the security alarms," one of the men tried to convince their irate employer.

"Are you saying you baboons cannot detect a fourteen-year-old leaving the grounds?" Seto was irate. "Then what do I pay you good money for?"

"Mr Kaiba, watch out –" Roland interjected.

"Roland, don't tell me to watch my temper!" Seto snapped. "Get your men and search for him!" With a huff, he grabbed a set of keys hanging from the wall near the front door and stormed out.

"Where are you going, Mr Kaiba?"

Seto's reply was a loud slam of the front door. Soon after, Roland and his men heard the mighty rev of the engine of Kaiba's Ferrari F430 zooming out of the compound. Roland sighed as he rallied and issued orders to his men. Sometimes he wondered why he even stayed on to work with someone as unpredictable as Seto Kaiba.

XO XO XO XO

"I love Saturdays!" Joey announced for no one in particular. His friends stared at him in confusion. All except Tea, who was staring into space for no reason. Then again, the rest of the gang was focusing on Joey's randomness, so they did not really notice that fact.

"But why?" Tristan objected. "I thought you should love Sundays. Isn't it public holiday? And besides, sometimes we get called back to school on Saturdays."

"Yeah, but Sunday means the next day there's school. Saturday means it's the end of the school week, and the start of the weekends!"

They erupted into laughter, slapping each other's backs. It was a custom that every Saturday morning they hung out at Kame Game Shop owned by Yugi's grandfather. Suddenly Yugi noticed that Tea was not joining in the fun. He sidled over to her and gave a light tap on her shoulder. Tea, startled, immediately turned to see who it was.

"Oh, it's you, Yugi," Tea said with a weak smile.

Yugi looked on worriedly at her. "You seemed to have a lot on your mind. Are you having problems, Tea? Wanna tell me?"

"I… no!" she waved her hands furiously in denial. "No! It's just… that time of the month, you know?"

Tea quickly glanced away. She'd better go with that lie. At least they bought it. She did not want to risk divulging the fact that the fact that she was staring into space because she was still thinking about – she herself could scarcely believe it – Seto Kaiba. Or rather, the incident that happened at his office yesterday. What bugged her was Roland's conversation on the phone. She had tried to reach Mokuba, but till now he had not called her back. More often than not, her calls were diverted to his mailbox.

But the entire thing was driving her nuts. She had wanted to get a good night's rest yesterday, but she ended up spending the entire night wondering about Kaiba. Even now, her mind was still filled with thoughts of him. What exactly is wrong with that guy?

"I have an idea!" again, Joey was being the event announcer for the day. "Let's all go to to the arcade!"

"Been there two weeks ago," Tristan called out, bored. "You know, there's this motocross competition happening at the edge of town. They have world champions competing!" Tristan's eyes shone as he leapt to his feet in a bid to convince his friends. "And Leo Stoner's gonna be there too!"

"Who?"

Tristan explained impatiently to Joey, "He's the number one motocross champion! It'll be so cool if I get to meet him! I'll want his autograph, on my bike!"

Joey wagged a finger in disagreement. "No way, Sherlock. Yug and Tea's not gonna want to sit through dirt. I say we go swimming!"

The bell above the entrance to the game shop tinkled and a voice that had been haunting Tea since last afternoon rang out, "I have a better idea. I say you dorks tell me where's Mokuba."

Tea's head whirled so fast, it was a miracle she did not accidentally snap her neck. The rest of the gang just stared open-mouthed at the sight of a very angry CEO at the doorway. Joey was the first to get up and approach him.

"Y'know, when people come into a shop, they walk in nicely and let the shopkeeper ask them 'how may I help you?' ," Joey said acidly. "They don't barge into a shop and insult the people inside."

Seto eyed him coolly. Then he shifted his gaze to the rest of the 'geek patrol'. "Hurry up and tell me! Where's Mokuba?!"

"Obviously he's not here!" Joey scowled.

"Cool it, Joey," Yugi interjected kindly. He turned to his nemesis/friend. "Why are you looking for Mokuba? Is he missing?"

Seto glared at him. "No, I just happen to have a hobby of going out of my mind on a Saturday morning looking for my brother," he snorted. "Of course he is. And I know that he's somewhere around here. Where else would he go?"

Joey waved his hands frantically in the air. "Earth to the snooty Kaiba! Mokuba. Is. Not. Here!"

Yugi duly ignored him. "Well, we can help look for him, if you – " Yugi stared after Seto who had blasted through to Yugi's house and finished lamely. "Want." He flinched as he heard doors being slammed one after another. After ten minutes, Seto was back at the game shop, fuming.

He pointed to his car outside. "Go dorks, move! Except for Yugi."

"And why is that?" this time round, it was Tristan's turn to question Seto's orders.

"So I can eliminate the places," Seto answered crossly as he shoved Tristan – sending both Tristan and Joey tumbling into the back seat of the car – and slammed the door shut behind them.

After that, in one fluid motion he pushed Tea into the front seat. She closed the door on her own. Within seconds, the Motley Crew was roaring down the road. Tristan was pretty much enjoying the speed of the Italian machine; Tea and Joey, meanwhile, were gripping on to the edge of their seats for their life. In Joey's case, it also meant that his mouth was working overtime.

"Do you know that you're like kidnapping us?" Joey said loudly over the roar of the engine.

"Do you know that I don't give a damn?" Seto shot back as he tackled a sharp corner. Joey shrieked in the back. Seto scowled. "Stop screaming like a girl, Wheeler! And hurry up and point out which one of this dump is your house!"

Joey thought of retorting with something so snazzy that Kaiba would not even think of giving a reply. But when the Ferrari squealed to a halt and almost sent Joey over out of the windscreen, he merely pointed out to a house on the end. "That one!" he gasped. "Second floor, at the end – whoa! Jeez, I can get out of the car myself, Kaiba!"

Seto shoved him forward to lead the way. Joey quickly hurried up to his home, unlocked the door and held the door out. "Ta-da! My home! And no Mokuba in sight!"

"That's for me to decide," Seto muttered as he pushed past Joey and initiated his search. The mutt's apartment was not big, and it was not the nicest to be in. He took less than five minutes to complete his search. By the time he got back to the gang, Joey's room had been turned upside down, in a worst condition than before. Joey looked on helplessly at the state of his room. "Fine, Wheeler. You're in the clear."

"I told you!" Joey crowed. Seto's only effort in replying was pushing the other two out and slamming Joey's own door in Joey's face.

XO XO XO XO

He slammed his hands on the steering wheel in frustration as the red light came on. As he seethed silently in the driver's seat, Tea glanced over at him. They were on the way to her house after Seto thrashed Tristan's. If he was mad by the time he arrived at Yugi's home, currently he was beyond enraged. And restless too, judging by the number of times he sighed in exasperation.

Tea thought of saying something, but her mind was blank. Not to mention the fact that she was afraid of the possibility of adding fuel to the fire raging in him. And so, for the rest of the journey, they rode in silence. Until Tea noticed that the pissed off young man beside her kept putting a hand to his temple and shaking his head.

"Are-Are you okay, Kaiba?" she instinctively reached a hand out to touch his arm.

"Can you drive?" that only served to instigate Tea's panic, along with him trying to steer the car with mostly one hand.

"No," she replied, her eyes straying to the road lying ahead of them. It was a very familiar one. "Hold on, Kaiba. Just a bit further up." Seto managed to direct the car as instructed. "Okay, you can stop here." She quickly got out of the car and raced over to the other side, intending to help Kaiba. But the CEO had already staggered out of it, and was leaning on his automobile. Tea, seeing that he was doing okay, ran to the front door, furiously unlocking the door. Once the door swung open, she turned to tell Seto but he was already behind her. She quickly stepped to the side and let him land himself on her couch.

She bit her lip at the sight of Kaiba holding his head in his hands. It must really be hurting. "I-I'll get you something to drink. Do you need a Panadol or anything?" she called out as she dashed into the kitchen. She tossed a tea bag into a mug and poured hot water from the thermos flask on the countertop. Once the tea was of mild strength, she pulled the teabag out and was about to throw it into the bin when she got the shock of her life at the window of her back door.

* * *

**and the good news is, chapter 6 will be up in 1-2 days!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: once again, thank you for all the reviews and alerts! it's really heartening to know that you guys are faithfully following this fic.**

**this chapter is kinda short, but i hope it can give you guys a feel for what to expect in the next chap (which i'm working on): things are gonna get heavy. anw, here your questions about where the eff is Mokuba is answered, and we get to discover yet another side of Seto before he reverts to somebody worthy of getting punched...**

* * *

Tea pulled open the door and hissed, "What are you doing here? Kaiba's gone ballistic looking for you!"

Mokuba put a finger to his lips nervously. "Shhh! I ran away from home, but I didn't know where to go so I ended up here. Is Seto inside?"

His friend leaned back against the door and crossed her arms as she looked at him with a stern face. "I want you to tell me everything, Mokuba. Why you ran away, firstly. And after that, what is wrong with your brother, because when I went over to KaibaCorp, I overheard Roland saying that his heartbeat wasn't normal and he had to consume pills."

Mokuba sighed and tiptoed to whisper his explanation. Occasionally, he snuck a peek over her shoulder to make sure that his brother was nowhere in sight. Once he was done, he found Tea staring at him in shock.

"Are you serious, Mokuba?" Tea whispered back. Her eyes darted to her living room. Then she suddenly remembered about Seto's condition. "Oh no! He was having headaches on the way here!"

To her surprise, the younger Kaiba appeared relaxed as he replied, "Don't worry. He had his pills yesterday, so he should be okay today. I'm guessing it's more of insulin shock. He hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday, I think."

Tea stared at him incredulously. "Isn't Kaiba afraid of getting gastric or something? Alright, then maybe the tea should help clear his head. I'd better tell him you're here."

"No, wait! Don't! He'll probably accuse you of hiding me all along. I'll get back home, and then… yeah, I'll think of something. But don't tell him I'm here alright! Bye!"

Tea stifled a laugh as she watched Mokuba scoot out of her backyard. She got back the mug of tea in her hand and carried it to the living room. She set it on the coffee table, opposite Seto. "Here, this might help. It's tea. You're okay with it, I hope?"

She thought she heard him mutter a decent enough thank you, but chose to remain quiet. Instead, she only observed as he took a few sips of the tea. Mokuba was right; it did seem to do the trick. For a moment, Tea considered offering to make him a sandwich, but went against it. Maybe tea would be sufficient for now.

Seto patted his hands over his outfit, as if looking for something. Tea decided to step in by asking kindly, "Looking for something?"

"My handphone," he replied absently. He tried to get up. "I think I left it in the car."

Tea bolted up from her seat and pushed him back down on the chair. "Stay here, I'll get it for you. Just tell me where it is."

Seto eyed her warily, then dropped her his car keys into her hand. "Somewhere in the front. Probably near the dashboard."

Tea nodded and made her way to the Ferrari parked outside. The car beeped to life and she pulled the door open. She rummaged the stuffs at the front of the car. She did not notice it earlier on, but Seto kept his car relatively clutter-free. Only a chequebook and several enveloped letters were slotted at near the front. She finally found his handphone hidden behind them.

She held it up and felt a pang of envy. It was the Nokia Arte, in all its sleek titanium built. She had seen the model at the mall, but the price tag had put her off. But to be honest, she was quite surprised to discover that the CEO owned a Nokia phone and not one of those more extravagant Blackberrys. As she held the phone in her hand, she felt a sudden urge to look through the phone. Wonder what the great Seto Kaiba stores in his phone. Tea had to smile at the thought of that.

Oh well, she thought as she slid the keypad cover to unlock the phone. Peeking won't hurt.

The sight that greeted her almost warmed her heart immediately. The mobile phone's wallpaper was of Seto and Mokuba; Seto was smiling slightly – taut, maybe, but it was sincere, she could tell – and Mokuba was grinning as he cut his birthday cake. That was the first step to piquing her interest in the contents of Seto's phone. She proceeded to the menu page, and selected the pictures icon. After all, the best way to know someone through his handphone was through his photos.

Tea could hardly believe her eyes as she went through the photos. Everything was of Mokuba, or Seto with Mokuba. There were only a few of Seto himself, but somehow Tea sensed that those shots were not taken by Seto. Probably by Mokuba. She could not help but marvel in wonder at the photos. How could someone so inhibited about his emotions be so… sweet?

But there Seto was, in those photos, looking like any normal older brother. There was a whole series of photos of Seto and Mokuba in football jerseys and jeans, actually enjoying a game of football. One particular snapshot did make her giggle – Mokuba sat grumpily in the backseat as he furiously tried to wipe off the mud sticking onto his body with wads of tissue. Tea could only imagine what Seto must have been telling him about keeping the backseat clean.

The next set of photos consisted of more formal shots of the brothers in business suits. Height aside, the intense look on Mokuba's face as he tried to copy Seto's icy look only served to make them look like father and son. There was a portrait shot of Mokuba, which Tea had to admit did make her little friend seem to resemble a big shot. However, it was the portrait shot of Seto that took her breath away momentarily. His features were well-defined, still it was his eyes that spoke volumes of who he was and the power he wielded. She wondered how could someone her age command such authority by simply staring out of a photo. But what baffled her most was the sense of guaranteed security she could feel in the midst of the authority. Is that what Kaiba was really all about?

"I hope you're done admiring my phone, cos I'd like to contact my men," a crisp voice whose coldness matched the iciness of the man in the photo surprised her, and Tea almost dropped the Arte. Seto Kaiba held out a hand. "My phone?"

Tea, too dumbfounded to speak, complied. Seto frowned at her weird reaction and looked down to find his men's contact number when he discovered what she had been intently browsing. He lifted his head and looked at her straight in the eye. "You looked through my photos."

Tea froze, unsure what to say. Lying would not be the smartest thing to do right now, so she nodded. At the same time, she braced herself to get hell from him for interfering in his affairs and trampling all over his personal space and property. To her surprise when she peeked at him, he himself was flicking through the photos and let the barest hint of a smile adorn his lips. Then the smile was gone and he was gazing straight at her.

For some unknown reason, Tea could hear her heart beating wildly. What was wrong with her?

"If you don't mind, I'd like to continue looking for my brother," Seto stated simply.

Just then, the Arte rang and Seto promptly answered it. Apart from a simple "Kaiba", he said nothing till the end of the conversation. Tea noticed his eyes growing stormy, but then the storm passed. Even as he hung up, he let out a small sigh.

I bet that's Mokuba, Tea thought excitedly. Finally, he's reached home.

Seto was about to get into his car when he noticed Tea still seated there. Putting the key that was lying near the dashboard into the ignition, he commented, "You can't drive, I thought."

"Oh," Tea uttered as she started to sidle out of the Ferrari. However, Seto simply pointed to the passenger seat. She looked at him questioningly.

"I know you'll want to see how Mokuba is, and then tell your friends," he said. "Get your seat belt on."

Tea could not help herself from smiling as she scooted over to the passenger seat and belted herself. Seriously, what is wrong with her?

XO XO XO XO

Their journey was as usual, filled with nothing but silence. Seto drove fast, but not at demon speed. Tea kept glancing over to him, and the stereo. Without looking at her, Seto broke the silence, "Turn it on. Rock's fine. No hip-hop."

Tea promptly prodded the button that brought the stereo to life. Neither of the music genre poured out. Rather, it was playing club music. In other words, Tea loved it. Too bad her music taste was not shared with the owner of the car, who creased his forehead in disapproval. Tea sighed and adjusted the frequency until they came to a station that belted relatively easy listening music.

"Hey, I like this song!" Tea exclaimed when If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks filled the interior of the car.

"I prefer Butterfly Kisses," Seto dropped an unexpected comment. When he noticed Tea staring at him open-mouthed, he snorted. "I don't live in a cave."

That only made her stare more at him. Was it just her, or did Seto Kaiba actually attempt to joke in his own sardonic way? In return, she smiled and just said happily, "It just came as a surprise. Who'd have known, Kaiba listening to Garth Brooks."

"At least I'll have something to say when one of those stupid reporters ask me what music do I like to listen to when the list of 100 eligible bachelors come out next year, as usual," Seto admitted gruffly. He glanced over at her. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"Because…" Tea pondered over her answer for a while. She waited a beat before continuing. "We're friends."

"I told you, we're not."

"You left the decision up to me," Tea retorted defensively. "And to me, you're my friend. Kaiba, why is it so hard for you to admit that?"

"Because maybe I don't need friends."

"Is there… did something happen that made you stop believing in people, Kaiba?" Tea hoped she had phrased her words perfectly. Maybe this was the first step to getting him to open up.

"You're not my psychologist, Gardner," Seto suddenly lost any cheeriness that might have rubbed onto him earlier on. They pulled into the Kaiba mansion compound. "Don't prod into matters that don't concern you."

"I'm just –"

"Keep your nose where it's supposed to be!" he snapped, sending Tea into a state of shock. He killed the engine and got out of the car without looking back.

As Tea carefully exited the car, her eyes followed Seto storming up the steps and into his house. For an emotionless person, he's sure emotional, she thought sarcastically as she made her way up the steps. Suddenly she remembered Mokuba, and she blanched as she realized that a touchy Kaiba was going in to meet his brother.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: hey guys! as mentioned, this chapter is kinda heavy, and possibly OOC at some parts for some of you. but i'm not gonna spoil it for you guys, so read on!**

**keep the reviews and alerts coming in!**

* * *

By the time Tea reached the living room, a shouting row had ensued between the brothers. She hid herself behind a wall, and took a peek at what was happening inside.

"What do you think you were doing, running away like that?" Seto was being too harsh on Mokuba, but whether he really meant to or not, Tea had no idea. "Because I scolded you for lying to me? So that gives you the right to disappear everytime you feel that I wronged you?"

"Because you're unreasonable!" Mokuba shouted back. He was bracing for the worst case scenario earlier on, but he never expected Seto to start throwing accusations at him.

"Unreasonable about what? Pointing out your mistakes? I'm just trying to be a good parent to you, is that so hard to understand?" Seto snapped, hands akimbo as he stared Mokuba down.

"It's all about you! It's always about you!"

"Always about me?" By now, Seto was infuriated. "I work hard every single day just to give _you _the best I could, you know that?!"

"I never asked you to, did I?" Mokuba yelled back at Seto.

"Don't shout back at me like that!"

Mokuba offered the final blow to the 'discussion' when he threw his pendant down and screamed, "I HATE YOU, SETO!" Without looking back, he fled out of the living room, barely aware that he passed by Tea, and up the grand stairway. Seconds later, the sound of a loud bang echoed throughout the mansion.

Tea glanced at the stairway, and back at Seto. He appeared stunned as he slowly bent down to pick up the pendant. He was rooted in that position for a long time. Tea bit her lip. _He'll be okay, _she convinced herself. _I'd better go check on Mokuba._

XO XO XO XO

Mokuba threw himself on his bed and punched his pillow repeatedly. _Seto is so unfair! Instead of being worried, he comes home and starts pushing all the blame on me! _Huffing, he stopped punching the pillow and hurled it at his dresser. It missed the photo frames lining the top of the dresser by an inch.

A knock came on the door, and Mokuba promptly yelled, "Go away! I hate you!"

Tea snuck her head in and said softly, "Mokuba, it's me, Tea."

Mokuba practically leapt out of bed as he went over to hug Tea tightly. "Tea! I hate him, Tea! I hate him!"

Tea knelt down and took Mokuba by the shoulders. She gave him a small smile and spoke gently, "Don't be like that, Mokuba. Your brother cares for you, but maybe it's just that his way of expressing it is…"

The black-haired boy shook his head furiously, causing his wild mane to go all over the place. "He used to really show he cares for me! He never shouted at me when scolding me, Tea. But why is he suddenly acting like a complete jerk?" Then he suddenly glared angrily at Tea and pushed her away. "You promised me you'd get Seto to be his old self back! You promised to help! Why aren't you doing anything?"

"I'm sorry, Mokuba, but I just couldn't find a way," Tea protested. How was she going to appease this boy?

Mokuba eyed her warily. Then finally he said in a warning tone, "Promise me you'll try again, Tea. Please." Without waiting for Tea's reply, he leaned in and gave her a tight hug. "Thanks, Tea."

"N-No problem, Mokuba," Tea stammered as she hugged the younger boy back.

XO XO XO XO

"If you're planning to lecture me, spare me the agony, Gardner," Seto said curtly without looking over his shoulder.

Tea flinched. How could he notice her presence when she had just set foot into the living room? Plus, Seto had his back towards her. He was seated on the black leather sofa set, hunched forward as he placed his glass on the wooden coffee table. From afar, Tea was not too sure what it was, but it looked like Sprite or 7-Up.

"I'm not," she replied, holding her hands up slightly as she walked a few more steps. It was best to maintain her distance from him for now. "Just… don't be too hard on him, Kaiba. He's probably going through his rebellious phase." That was when she noticed what he had been consuming all along. She commented in disbelief, "I thought you don't drink."

"I do now," he answered bitterly. He reached out to pour himself another glass of Glenfiddich as he snorted. "Rebellious phase."

"It's just a suggestion," Tea shot back heatedly. Was the phrase so alien to him? But as she watched him drain his glass and start to pour himself another, she grew worried. "How many glasses have you had, Kaiba?"

"Doesn't matter," he proceeded to down his whisky. He looked straight ahead, keeping his gaze steady on the front door of the manor. Tea hoped he was the sort who would be able to hold his drink. He gave a slight, almost cruel smile as he mused, "Mokuba keeps on blaming me for a lot of things."

Tea was about to offer some comforting words, but any intention of doing that immediately faltered when Seto barked out a laugh. She flinched upon hearing how hollow and cold the laugh was. By the time she dared to glance at his direction, Seto was already staring blankly into space, the grip on his wine glass tightening with every passing second.

"Do you think it's easy to be me?" Seto suddenly spoke up, taking Tea by surprise. "Do you think it's easy to be taking on so many roles at the same time?" The volume of his voice rose with every rhetorical question thrown out. "Doing things that you don't want to do? Giving up things that you'd rather won't?"

"Kaiba…"

"Do you think I enjoy it?!" A hand flew to Tea's mouth when the glass in Seto's hand found itself smashed against a wall. The CEO himself was crumpled on the floor on his knees, his hands clutching the edge of the coffee table to balance himself. His head was bowed, but there was no mistaking the swell of emotions raging through him. His shoulders were shaking as he spat, "Everyone thinks they know Seto Kaiba. Sure, I know him too. Cold, ruthless, jackass multi-millionaire."

Tea bit her lip, barely believing what was unfolding before her. She knew her sight was clouding up with warm tears, and she quickly held them back as she continued to study Kaiba. How could he live harboring such contempt for himself? She walked up to him carefully and pushed the bottle of whiskey away.

She attempted to put a hand on his shoulder, but he launched into another tirade, albeit a quieter one. Now that she was directly beside him, she could see angry tears streaking his face. "I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody who tries too hard to be a somebody."

Tea clutched at him as she tried to hoist him back up to the sofa. She choked out, "You're drunk."

Even in his less than sober state, he was adamant to argue otherwise. Tea firmly shook her head and eked out a stern whisper, "Yes, you are. I'll get you coffee. Stay here."

Without wasting another minute, Tea hurried out of the living room, closing a hand over her mouth tightly as she did so. She pressed her eyes shut, wanting to stop the tears but she could still feel them flowing. _Kaiba… oh my God. Kaiba…_

XO XO XO XO

By the time Tea stepped into the kitchen, she hoped that there was no traces that she had just let her emotions got the better of her earlier. Hastily, she ran her hands over her face and smoothed out her hair and willed herself to smile. The last thing she wanted to do right now was smile, but at least it made her feel better somehow. Her mood was further lifted by the sight in the kitchen; a middle-aged lady dressed in a navy blue servant uniform who had just taken out a tray of chocolate chip cookies from the oven.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," Tea interrupted the lady politely.

The lady turned around and broke out into a wide smile when she saw Tea. Tea instantaneously felt calmed by her, and she smiled back shyly before she proceeded to introduce herself and ask if she could have some coffee.

"Well, certainly," the lady, who introduced herself as Nana, gave Tea a knowing smile as she brewed the coffee. She offered the cookies (which she had baked to cheer Mokuba up) to Tea, but Tea declined. "Finally, Seto brought a girl home!"

Tea could feel her face turning a deep shade of red as she spluttered. "What?! No, I mean, I'm not –"

Nana laughed. "Oh, you youngsters keep saying no, but you can't fool us!" Then she stopped laughing and regarded Tea with a wan smile. There was no mistaking the relief in her eyes. "I'm so glad Seto could bring himself to let someone into his life at last. He's been keeping people out for so long."

Tea's eyebrows furrowed. _Maybe I should play the girlfriend for a while_, she thought for a while. _If this is going to be how I find out more about what's going on._ Feigning a confused look like a girlfriend who seemed surprised to know about a hidden part of her boyfriend, she queried, "Keeping people out? What do you mean, Nana?"

Nana looked around to ensure that there was no one nearby before she sighed, "I suppose you deserve to know, Tea. To be frank, I'm surprised you can stand by him. Seto's not an easy person to handle. I remember when he first came here. He was quiet, but he was such a sweet boy. Until, of course, his classes started. At first, he was fine. Occasionally he confided how stressed he was by everything. I pitied him, I wanted so much to help, but what could I do? I was just a servant. Over time, he just grew… cold. He was distant to everyone, and started to keep more to himself. I had to admit, it was scary to be around him at that time.

"After Seto became the head of the Kaiba family, I thought that maybe there was a chance the ice in him would thaw. I was wrong, of course. He just became more reclusive. From the way he dealt with people, I could tell, he never believed everything they said. He was always wary of them. If you were there like I was, you wouldn't believe how he could push people away effortlessly. It was like he was trying to keep as little people in his personal life as possible. I watched the boy grow up, and it just broke my heart to see him end up to be a man like that. Bitter, full of anger, friendless.

I know Mokuba has tried to soften him. He's still trying, isn't he? After Mokuba's accident, Seto showed promising signs of changing. Mokuba was so happy about it, but…" Nana shook her head sadly. "They've been at each other's throat for the past two weeks, it's unlike them. I know that their company isn't doing too well, Seto himself hasn't been well… I never had the heart to say it, but I think the psychologist sessions Mokuba made Seto go for caused all this madness."

The coffeemaker clicked, and as Nana poured out a cup per Tea's request, Tea quickly turned her face away and blinked rapidly. When she looked back at Nana, the middle-aged lady already had a tray with the cup of coffee held out for her. With a smile, Tea graciously took it. Nana walked her to the entrance of the kitchen and had this to say as a parting to Tea, "Seto doesn't trust people easily. But now that he has you, please, don't betray his trust by leaving him."

With that, Nana left Tea to continue her way back to the living room. As Tea balanced the tray in her hand, her eyes skimmed the grand furnishings of the mansion. She swallowed down a lump in her throat. _Kaiba's right_, she realized with a sick feeling in her stomach. _Everyone thinks they know him. But how could anyone know how much sadness is hidden behind all this grandeur?_

By the time she reached the living room, it took all Tea had not to give in to the atmosphere again and start tearing. Quickly she set the tray on the coffee table and braved herself to take a seat beside Seto. Thankfully, he was not drinking, but that did not make the situation any better. The young man was staring down at the floor, unmoving save for twin rivulets streaming down his cheeks.

_Bitter, full of anger, friendless. What have you done to yourself, Kaiba?_ Tea reached out a hand to touch his face.

Seto turned to meet her gaze, and Tea saw for once the anguish and the fatigue mirrored in those blue eyes. Unwittingly, her fingers slowly wiped off the tears trailing down his face. "It'll be alright," she heard herself whisper.

"I'm nobody," Seto whispered back hoarsely.

"You're not," Tea assured him. She never removed her hand from the side of his face, even when he leaned his head against her shoulder. "It'll be alright." When she peered down at him, she saw that he had fallen asleep. Gently, she stroked his cheek. "It'll be alright."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: i'm so glad you guys are loving this fic as much as i do writing it! thanks a lot everyone!**

**so here's the next part. moving to another focus in this story perhaps?**

**keep those reviews and alerts acoming!**

* * *

His eyelids fluttered open slowly, and it took him a few seconds of surveying his surroundings before it struck him that he was in his living room. Seto propped his elbows on the sofa, using it as a lever to lift himself off it. He was still dressed in the midnight blue linen shirt he had on yesterday. Had he been sleeping here the whole night? Sighing, he stood up lazily, and something fluttered down onto the carpet. Seto frowned as he reached down for it. It was a folded piece of paper. Sitting back down again, he carefully unfolded it. The moment he saw the handwriting, he suddenly recalled who it was that had sat beside him last night: Tea Gardner.

_She must be the one who left this here_, he realized.

_Duelist. President. Businessman. Employer. Inventor. Student. Benefactor. Fighter. Inspiration._

_Son._

_Brother._

_Father._

_Guardian._

_Protector._

_Friend._

_Never ever say that you're nobody, because from all of this, I see that it's otherwise. You're not just somebody, Kaiba; you're more than that. Remember that._

_P/S: Go easy on Mokuba._

Seto folded the letter close. Unaware even to him, the corners of his lips tugged upwards slightly. _Gardner. Always wanting to make people feel better_, he thought as checked his watch. Two a.m. More or less the normal time he used to go to bed. The only difference now was that he has had enough sleep for the day. Maybe that was why he was not suffering from that hangover that a lot of people associated with excessive drinking. Or maybe it was true what some people said; he was slightly weird.

He walked down the corridor of the second floor, and promptly paused outside Mokuba's room. He glanced down at the pendant clutched in his hand.

_I HATE YOU, SETO!_ Mokuba's words still rang clearly in his mind. Pressing his eyes shut, Seto took in a lungful of air and quietly opened the door to his brother's room. As usual, a night light was the only one that provided light in the room. Mokuba was curled on the bed, his back facing the door. Seto closed the door silently behind him and carefully positioned himself at the side of Mokuba's bed.

"That's too bad, Mokuba, because I don't hate you," he murmured, stroking his brother's hair gently. Mokuba stirred, and Seto removed his hand. "Good night, lil bro."

Seto was about to exit from the room when Mokuba suddenly sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Big Brother?" he called out groggily.

"Mokuba," his big brother loped back to give him a tight hug. "I'm so sorry. You were right. I never did try to understand you. I never did try to see that you're growing up, and that you can make your own decisions."

Mokuba pushed himself away from Seto slightly as he regarded his older brother seriously. He crossed his arms and asked pointedly, "What changed?"

Seto thought back to the note, and the comfort he felt when Tea placed her cool hands on his face. He looked straight back at Mokuba and replied, "I just came to realize that I was wrong." His gaze softened. "Can you forgive me, Mokuba?"

The younger Kaiba squinted hard at his brother. He knew Seto well. There was no way he would suddenly come to a realization that he was wrong and apologise. Even to admit that Yugi was the King of Games, it took Seto two years and a trip to Egypt to see that fact. Mokuba's eyes ticked over to the piece of paper in his brother's hand that was also holding his pendant. Seto's pleading face morphed into a confused one when Mokuba suddenly grinned.

"It's Tea, isn't it?" Mokuba was wide-awake now.

"What?"

Mokuba snatched the paper from Seto before his brother could even object, and soon he was greedily reading the contents. Seto sighed. So much for Mokuba not knowing. Once Mokuba was done, he lifted his eyes carefully to meet Seto's.

"You're not a nobody, Big Brother," Mokuba said softly as he handed the note back to his brother. He kept his eyes on his brother's lap as he did so. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up only to find his brother holding out his pendant for him.

"As long as you're with me, I'll always be a somebody," Seto's voice was so quiet, it came out as a half-whisper. He looped the string of the pendant over Mokuba's head and gently placed it until the pendant was resting on his brother's left chest. "I'll never be a nobody, as long as I mean something to you." He hesitated before continuing, "I'd do anything to make it up to you, lil bro."

A moment passed, then Mokuba slowly leaned forward to give his brother a bear hug, which Seto – after a few awkward seconds – reciprocated. "I love you, Big Brother."

"Me too."

Mokuba peeked at his brother and gave a cheeky smile. "You said you'd do anything to make it up to me, right?"

XO XO XO XO

Tea flipped the television channel on. A serial drama, Heart of Nineteen, was playing on the screen, but she barely paid any attention to it. She yawned. She had reached home past seven yesterday, dropped an SMS to Tristan to tell the guys that Mokuba's okay and turned in uncharacteristically early for herself at nine. But the events of the day kept replaying in her mind, and Tea found it hard to close her eyes without seeing again the way Kaiba had fallen apart right before her eyes. And when she decided to stay awake, her mind kept drifting back to when Kaiba had rested his head on her shoulder and fell asleep.

She remembered, she and Kaiba stayed like that for what turned out to be three hours. Him asleep with his head on her shoulder, her occasionally stroking his face and just watching on as he slept. Of course, she ended up dozing off at some point in time, and when she awoke, she realized that she had been resting her head against his. That was when she decided to pack up and leave, but not before leaving behind a note.

Her phone rang, and Tea reached out to pick it up. She answered lazily, "Hello?"

"Tea!" Yugi's cheerful voice on the other end was enough to jolt her awake.

"Yugi! What a surprise!"

"Yoohoo! Don't forget us here!" Joey and Tristan's voice popped out from somewhere.

Tea wanted to frown, but she ended up laughing upon hearing their voice. "Fess up. What are you three up to, without me at that?"

"Actually, nothing!" Joey deadpanned. "I just thought it'll be fun if Trissy here tries out his new four-way dial. He was bragging all about it, so I had to make him shut up. Right, Trissy?"

"Don't call me that!" Tristan could be heard trying to strangle Joey, judging from the blond's yelp.

"Your neighbour calls you that, doesn't she?" Joey teased. He diverted his conversation to Tea and Yugi. "Ya see, when I came over to his house to pick up his new video game, his neighbour was around. She was this little pink princess and when she saw him? 'Trisssyyyyyy!' I swear, the whole neighbourhood heard her."

The rest of them broke out into peals of laughter, dubiously aware of an obviously embarrassed Tristan who tried and failed to change the subject. After subjecting Tristan to an entire five minutes of being poked on, Yugi finally decided to change the topic, much to Tristan's relief. He suggested that they meet up for dinner that night to make up for their spoilt Saturday afternoon. Joey was all up for the newest burger outlet in town, but Yugi and Tea has had enough of McDonald's. Eventually, Tea's idea for a nice exotic dinner at Café Caire won them all.

"But it's not expensive or anything, right?" Joey wanted a consoling confirmation.

"No, Joey," Tea assured him for the umpteenth time. "It's just kebab. And they have Coke."

"Okay, let's go!" Joey crowed. "Let me set the timing. Ehhh…. Let's all meet at the town square at seven?"

"Not a minute later," Tea promised.

They said their goodbyes, with all of them calling Tristan Trissy, and hung up. Tea grinned as she relaxed back into her sofa. Sunday dinner with her beloved friends. A great way to end the week, and definitely a great way to start the next week. She started thinking through of what to wear later that night. Café Caire was not a posh place, but it was the newest 'it' place among the kids in school. She considered her white eyelet babydoll top and pairing it with her three-quarter Capri pants. That seemed suitable enough.

She was about to head up to her room to take the outfit she had in mind when a knock came on the door. Cautiously, she went up to answer the door.

"Miss Tea Gardner?" an Asian woman in a black suit stood at the door. She seemed to be well-off, judging from her well-coiffed golden hair and dangling earrings. Tea would not be surprised if they were actual diamonds.

"Uh, yes?" Tea answered, suddenly self-conscious of her plain t-shirt and skirt.

The woman smiled and extended a hand. "Mischa Hutama," she introduced herself. Catching Tea's puzzled reaction, she explained, "Born Indonesian, but I was raised here all my life."

"Oh, okay. Is there anything that I can help you with?"

Mischa smiled wider. "Well, actually, I'm the one tasked to help you."

"Help me?" Tea echoed, clearly perplexed. "Help me with what?"

Mischa let out a tinkling laugh. "Employer's orders. Come with me." Seeing Tea's hesitation, she sighed and took Tea by the hand to her gleaming Nissan. "Don't worry, I'm not related to the yakuza or anything. I'll even let you have my ID card. Come along."

XO XO XO XO

Seto barely walked five steps into the living room when Mokuba jumped in front of him and halted him. Not giving any explanation to satisfy his brother's curiosity, he dragged Seto back up the stairs and into his older brother's bedroom located at the end of the wing. Naturally, the room was the largest. Sometimes Mokuba wondered why Seto needed such a huge room when he rarely spent time in there.

"Mind enlightening me why you're rummaging through my closet?" Seto scowled as he watched his brother ransacking his wardrobe.

"Gee, Seto, I really need to bring you shopping," Mokuba complained.

"What's wrong with my wardrobe?" Seto shot back.

"They're boring!" Mokuba pointed to his brother's plain shirts on the left and his business suits on the right. A black turtleneck shirt, two pairs of jeans – one black, one blue – and a football jersey acted as the divider. "Look at this! I can count the number of clothes you have, and if I checked them against your wardrobe three years back, they'll still be the same."

"So?"

"So, you need a new wardrobe!" Mokuba said excitedly. "But for now we have to get you out of that outfit." At Seto's warning glare, Mokuba quickly amended, "They're okay, but maybe you should wear something nicer."

Mokuba continued to plough through Seto's wardrobe. Meanwhile, Seto cast a skyward glance and sighed. Now he had to endure having Mokuba as his unneeded fashion consultant. He felt fine with what he was wearing now; a crisp white dress shirt and black pants with some second-grade Italian leather loafers on his feet.

"Okay, wear this," Mokuba held out a black shirt with thin white vertical stripes that Seto swore he had never seen before. (It was hung at the far back of his closet, and apparently he had never worn it before.) "And then I'll find you some accessories."

"Accessories?" Seto snorted. "Mokuba, I'm not a girl."

"Just wear it!" Mokuba called out over his shoulder as he attacked Seto's drawers next.

Seto sighed as he changed out of his current shirt to the new one. If this was going to be the way everytime he and Mokuba go out for dinner, he was contemplating having dinners strictly at home. For now, unfortunately, he had to endure being Mokuba's guinea pig.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: once again, to everyone, thank you for the reviews and alerts! keep those coming in, alright? because they keep me inspired!**

**anyway, this chap is finally done after rewriting it thrice *phew* i always thought that Seto would not be a guardian with usual parenting skills, so i inserted that subtly in here. further information will follow towards the end, of course. **

**and no, Seto won't be all warm and cuddly.**

**enjoy this chap, yea!**

* * *

Tea stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror in confusion. She was supposed to be amazed, thrilled even to be able to get the chance to wear an off-white designer mini dress. Fully made of satin, the dress was relatively simple, but ruffled at the hem. To add to that, Mischa had plonked her down on a chair in her studio and gave her a makeover. Tea had tried to resist the mascara – it always made her eyes feel itchy – but the chatty Mischa was having none of it.

"Can I make a fair guess who your employer is?" Tea finally plucked the courage to make her guess known. They were back in Mischa's Mercedes, on the way to somewhere that the Indonesian had refused to disclose. She only hoped it was not Café Caire; she already felt bad for canceling the dinner with her friends at the last minute.

"You have an idea who it is?" Mischa sounded worried. _Trade secrets no more, huh, kiddo_, she thought back to her employer.

"I think so," Tea said slowly. "It doesn't happen to be a Kaiba, is it?"

"Sweet guessing," Mischa played the nonchalant game. "But which one?"

"Fourteen year old with long black hair whose name starts with an M."

Mischa, the image consultant, groaned as she tackled a bend. "Go Mokuba. Sheesh. I told him it wouldn't work."

Tea laughed as she turned to her newfound friend. "And what exactly is he up to, by dragging me away like this?"

To that, the dyed blonde grinned. "Trade secret. Can't tell." She pulled up outside a posh-looking restaurant. "And so, here we are! Ritzel's! Best fusion food in town!" She reached for her handbag and pulled out a slip of paper. "Show this to the waiter. Table 36."

"Uh, okay, thanks," Tea took the paper and exited the car. Before she headed into the restaurant, she peered her in back into the Mercedes. "Aren't you coming along?"

"They do serve French food as well, but French food and I don't go along together, no thanks to my French ex-beau," Mischa commented. She gave Tea a little wave and started to drive off. "Have fun! And maybe one of these days, we can dine there for a girls' night out!"

Tea waved back to the disappearing Mercedes S-class. When the car was gone from the road, she sighed. Somehow, she had a sinking feeling what Mokuba was really up to.

_Maybe if he had asked me properly instead of doing all this, I'd be more thrilled_, she thought broodingly as she reluctantly made her way to the front door of the restaurant.

XO XO XO XO

Throughout the journey in the limousine, Seto successfully tuned out Mokuba's chatter as he busied himself with his laptop. His financial analysts had just emailed him the latest outlook for the company, and if the overcast evening sky was of any indication, he had more trouble on his hands than he wanted.

The economic crisis was hitting the world hard, and it seemed that KaibaCorp was not spared. Their profits were marginal for the last few months, and if the situation carried on without anything being done, he would have to end up shrinking his empire. Worse still, if profits stop rolling in, the entire KaibaCorp infrastructure would crumble. Firing employees was something he had gotten used to, but laying off an entire building of workers was something he was not prepared to do. He had always dissed employers who took the shortcut to save costs by purging employees – how could they maintain production that way? Of course, Seto was peripherally aware that his employees had families to look after, and as much as he wanted to cut costs, there was no chance he would go against his principles of letting children take the brunt of what their parents were going through.

Seto glanced out of the window, his brows creasing in deep thought. He was tired of facing all of this: at office and at home. He wanted so much to tell Mokuba what he really felt about yesterday's incident, but his little brother was contented with the idea of going out for a dinner with his older brother. Seto was forced to lay off the plan for another time. Suddenly Seto understood how some parents must have felt having to handle adolescence in the household; it was a complete headache. And things at the office was not making it any better. The only thing that Seto wished for right now was for his body continue to listen to him and stop acting up; his high blood pressure had reverted to normal, and he had eaten on time so there was no way his body could possibly go against him by throwing him into a state of temporary 'shock'. Maybe the doctors were right - his uncontrollable stress level was driving his bodily functions haywire.

Mokuba was still trying to summarise the latest cartoon show on tv. Seto glared at him and said almost off-handedly, "Grown-ups don't talk about cartoons, Mokuba."

That got Mokuba to be silent. Then he said quietly, "I'm sorry, Seto," He cleared his throat. "Then what do grown-ups talk about?"

Seto's face remained expressionless as he placed his laptop on Mokuba's lap. "This," he pointed to the line graph on the screen. Mokuba was immediately aware of the rapidly declining gradient for the past six months. "Any suggestions on how to improve the situation?"

Mokuba froze out. He barely understood what the actual situation was, but he knew that whatever it was, it was not good for KaibaCorp. Besides, what was up with Seto? Just before they left the house, Seto had barred Nana from helping to clear up Mokuba's room and insisted that Mokuab be the one to do it. Before that, he even barred Nana from preparing breakfast or doing practically anything for Mokuba.

"He's all grown up, Nana," Seto had declared during the latest incident. "And adults clean their own room, don't they? So Mokuba can settle his room now. I'm sure he can clean it in time for dinner."

Luckily, the limousine finally pulled up at the restaurant, and Seto had no choice but to cut short his business discussion with Mokuba. They stepped out of the limo and headed for the entrance of the restaurant.

"Good evening, sir," the waiter at the door greeted them. "A table for two?"

"I made a reservation," Mokuba chirped. "Table 36."

The waiter smiled and ushered them in. "This way, please."

The two brothers followed suit, and as expected, heads turned in their direction. Several gasps could be heard from the female patrons. Mokuba smiled smugly while Seto merely rolled his eyes. They were a few steps from their designated table when Seto caught sight of a brunette already seated there.

Seto looked down at his brother expectantly. Mokuba glued his eyes to the floor and shuffled uncomfortably. Here they go.

XO XO XO XO

As the sound of gasps started nearing her table, Tea figured that her long-awaited guests must have finally arrived. Putting on her most annoyed face, she turned around in her seat to throw dagger stares at the brothers. But what she saw immediately doused out any irritation within her and soon she found a smile creeping its way to her lips.

Kaiba looked exceptionally… amazing. Could a simple wardrobe change add a different dimension to his outer character? He had on a long-sleeved black shirt with thin vertical stripes running down it, paired with black straight-cut jeans. Adding on to the new look was a chain around his neck, acting as the suspender for his pendant and ID tag.

"H-Hi," Tea stuttered. When Seto turned to look at her, she felt herself blushing against her will. Why must he look so stunning tonight? Suddenly she wondered whose idea it really was to kidnap her for dinner here.

"Gardner," Seto addressed her. "What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't you be asking your brother that?" Tea shot back, equally civil.

"I'm waiting for that too," Seto commented.

"Okay. Seto, Tea. Tea, Seto," Mokuba babbled an unnecessary introduction. "And it's not a dinner date. So can we please sit down now and start having our dinner?"

As if on cue, a waitress approached their table to take their order. Seto ordered foie gras and iced green tea without even touching his menu. Tea played it safe and after scanning the menu, settled for mushroom ravioli and soda. Mokuba was the only one left struggling to decide on what to eat. Finally, he turned to Seto and issued an emergency call for help. To his surprise, Seto merely shrugged and said, "Adults make their own decisions, remember?"

Mokuba lowered his eyes back onto the menu and said plainly to the waitress, "I think I'll just have curry udon. And coke?"

The waitress smiled, rechecked their order and scuttled off, but not before casting a longing glance at the tall young man seated at the table. Unfortunately for her, the certain CEO was oblivious to her.

The trio sat silently at the table. Occasionally Tea could not resist staring at her classmate. He looked so different. But somehow she knew it was not exactly his style of dressing; Seto was usually a plain dresser. Mokuba must have forced his brother to actually dress up for this dinner. Just like how he made me without my knowledge, she added on maddeningly. She threw a glance at her young friend. And just like how he set me up for dinner with his brother without neither of our knowledge. I should kill him for this.

"Uh… Seto?" Mokuba said uncertainly.

"What?"

"Can I…" Mokuba lowered his voice and leaned towards his big brother. "Can I go to the toilet?"

"Mokuba, grown-ups can do whatever they want to do," Seto replied uninterestedly without looking at him. "Kids ask for permission. Adults don't."

The slight shock was evident on Mokuba's face, but he quickly excused himself anyway. As she watched Mokuba weave his way past the tables to the restroom, Tea commented, "Reverse psychology. Nice going."

Seto glared at her. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Tea rolled her eyes. "It is a compliment. I know what you're doing, Kaiba."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes," Tea insisted. "That's the first time I ever see a parental figure teaching a teenager a lesson about life without resorting to shouting and nagging. I know what he said hurt you, Kaiba. But I'm glad you're… well, getting back at him in this way."

"This isn't payback, Gardner," Seto said levelly. The whole time he refused eye contact. "This is the only way for me to get him to wake up and realize that I'm disappointed in his attitude. This way, he doesn't get hurt or angry or whatever. Mokuba thinks he's adult enough, fine. I'll treat and understand him like one."

"He's still a kid, Kaiba. And he realized that already, I can see it on his face."

"I'll wait for him to admit that," Tea was slightly taken aback by the CEO's indifference. But after that episode yesterday, she knew that it was just him putting up his walls again. "But it won't be tonight. Mokuba's stubborn."

_Wonder where he got that from,_ Tea added on silently. "So you're gonna keep this up until he admits that he's wrong?"

"He's not wrong, Gardner. Just misinformed about independence. And besides, it's probably time for me to see if I did raise him well." Seto suddenly locked eyes with her, and he said sincerely, "Thank you for the note. It gave me the solution of what to do with Mokuba."

"I…uhh, it's nothing," Tea stumbled over her words. "What do you mean, solution?"

Seto kept his eyes on her and snickered. "For the smarter of the dorks, things sure connect slow for you in the brain department, don't they?" Then he regarded her seriously. "Two words stood out from your note, and they reminded me what I had to be, and what I had to do."

"Father, and guardian," she spoke, almost in a whisper.

Seto looked as if he might elicit a small smile on his features, but after a while it did not materialize. However, he did look straight at Tea for the duration, before finally, reluctantly, he commented, "You look good in white."

Tea stared back at him, surprised. Gaining her composure, she returned the compliment, "You look great, too. Maybe you should wear stripes more often."

"Maybe."

Tea sighed and shifted her gaze to the dance floor. A familiar ballad was playing, and the people on the dance floor seemed like fun. Too bad she was stuck with someone who probably rejected offers to dance, even at his own functions.

"Go if you want." Seto had apparently seen the fleeting gaze of someone itching to dance on her face.

Tea turned to face him. Maybe she should just risk it, for the fun of it. Besides, if he could not dance, she could file the memory away and have a good laugh at it when she got home. Without warning, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of his seat. Seto's relaxed pose made it easier for her to pull him over to the dance floor; if he had been his usual tense self, she doubted she would have succeeded.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Seto seethed.

"Dancing," Tea remarked simply.

"Then do it on your own. I'm not interested."

"Can't do," Tea stubbornly insisted. "This dance needs a partner, and rather than leave you to rot at the back there, I chose you."

"Nobody tells me what to do. Especially not you."

They were already in the midst of the dancing crowd. "View this as a way to repay my favour. And my way of saying sorry to appear unannounced to you for tonight's dinner."

Seto reluctantly took her hand in his and resisted the urge to shrug her off when she placed another hand on his shoulder. He had to admit, in the wan lighting of the restaurant's dance floor, she looked… pretty. In the end, he relented, "One dance. And after that, I don't owe you anything anymore."

Tea smiled. "Deal." The song had changed, and the new one caught her by surprise. It was one of her favourite song, and usually she would be jumping all over singing along to it. But tonight, somehow, the same song carried a different meaning. Suddenly, the song seemed to be attributed to… them.

Seto sensed her sudden rigidity and snorted. "You dragged me out, and now you don't want to dance."

"No, no," she was quick to deny. She threw a frustrated look at him, and then just sighed exasperatedly. "Forget it, just dance."

And as they danced (Seto turned out to be a great one, as Tea would realize when she got back home), Tea kept her attention fully on the song, and how it suddenly brought an entire new meaning to her:

_Time goes by, we have so many meetings and partings  
Here I am, relying on someone's kindness, I lost sight of something  
What do you think of now, all alone at night as you count the seasons past?_

_Sometime, sometimes the loneliness overwhelms my heart  
I don't want to be all alone, it's painful  
One day, one day you'll fine your precious one  
If you look up at the sky, there's a single shining star_

_Tell me why, why do we long for love like this?  
The starry sky is honest, decorating the night with its tender sparkling_

_Somewhere, somewhere there's my precious only one  
You're not all alone anymore, you're not alone  
Someday, someday you're fated to meet someone you'll love  
Before you realize it, they'll be by your side_

_Even if a million years go by  
We never change, no worries, you'll be alright  
I know you'll meet your precious only one  
One day you'll find them on this earth, I believe in love  
Always_

* * *

**note: the song the translated version of Precious One by popular Japanese boyband, KAT-TUN**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/n: Merry X'mas everyone!!!!! i don't exactly celebrate it, but i still wanna give you guys a special gift for being such great readers: a new chapter on X'mas Day!**

**but because X'mas is in the air, well, let's just say i couldn't resist injecting a few songs inside. song credits at the end of the fic!**

**and yes, everything is about Seto here!**

**enjoy yea!**

* * *

They rode the limousine in silence. It was almost becoming a habit for them to start off a ride by not saying anything. Seto had dropped Mokuba off at the mansion, and curtly insisted that he saw to it personally that she reached home safely. That was precisely why they were sitting side by side at the back of the automobile, separated only by Seto's laptop that he had thoughtfully placed on the seat between them.

Tea turned her head slightly towards Seto. He was looking straight ahead, arms folded, as if the last thing he wanted was to be in the same location as her. _If that's the case, then why bother sending me back, you annoying… arghhh…_ Tea ended her annoyed thought and decided that it would be better if she attempted to add some sort of sound to the horrifyingly silent car.

"I didn't know you could dance well," she quipped. She knew she sounded stupid, but she could hardly care. Somebody had to initiate the conversation.

"I had to learn it," he replied.

Tea studied him carefully. "You don't sound… pleased. Isn't dancing fun?"

Seto hesitated. "Never mind. You won't get it."

"Try me," she challenged.

He sounded morbid as he rose to her challenge, "I was forced to. Back when I was younger. Few years back." He stared squarely at her. "It wasn't a form of entertainment for me, Gardner. It was…" He averted his eyes and sighed softly. "You're not me, you won't get it."

"It's alright, I understand," Tea assured him quietly. "Your step – well…"

Seto said nothing for a while, and Tea felt bad for bringing up something that she knew he had probably learnt to forget. When Seto finally spoke, he asked curiously, "Why do you keep trying to be nice to me and try to understand me? Why are you bothering to see things from my perspective?"

_Good question,_ Tea groaned inwardly. She tried to come up with a sensible answer. "Because maybe I … I've got nothing better to do? I mean, your character intrigues me. You never let people see how you really are, underneath all that… façade." When Seto's head snapped up to glare at her at the last word, she coolly added on, "I know deep down you're not a jerk as you make yourself out to be. Nobody who raises Mokuba the way you do has that sort of attitude. If you're a jerk, you'd probably be shouting and hollering at Mokuba, putting him down. You don't. You know Mokuba's not as adult as he make himself out to be, but yet you're still giving him the chance for him to realize that on his own."

"You sound like as if I'm a frog and you're dissecting me," Seto retorted.

Tea would have chuckled, but the seriousness of his voice stopped her. "I'm right, aren't I?"

He inclined his head towards the door. "We've reached. Quickly get inside. It's nearing 12."

"I'm not Cinderella," she protested.

"I know, but midnight still isn't the best time for a well-dressed girl to be out on the streets."

Once both he and his driver were certain that Tea had closed the door to her house behind her, they continued on their return journey to Kaiba Mansion.

_I'm right, aren't I?_

_I wish I could hate you for that, Gardner,_ Seto replied with his thoughts broodingly.

XO XO XO XO

"Where's your suit?"

Mokuba looked up from his cereal, confused. Seto had suddenly stood across him. He must have had entered the dining hall not too long ago, but Mokuba was probably engrossed with his breakfast to notice.

Seto gestured to his brother's school uniform. "Usually people go to the office in a suit. But if you want to wear that, by all means, Mr Vice-President."

"Huh? But I'm going to school."

"Last time I checked, adults work," Seto took a sip of his coffee and set it back on the table, somewhere near the middle. It was his signal to indicate that he was done with it. He checked his watch and turned to head for the front door. He called out over his shoulders, "Two minutes, Mokuba."

The next few days proceeded similarly; Mokuba spent an average of eight hours stuck in his makeshift desk outside Seto's office as vice-president. He had no option of even going to school. Usually when he dropped by the office, the only thing he had to do was help his brother oversee the stock exchange of KaibaCorp. It was only now that he understood what it really felt to be an employee of the company. It was nowhere near pleasant, especially now.

"Is this a report or trash?" Seto flung the red file onto his desk, practically hollering at Mokuba. "I asked for the financial report of this company, and this is how you present it?"

"Big Brother…"

"Mr Kaiba!" Seto corrected harshly. Mokuba flinched. "How many times have I told you, nothing's personal and everything's professional in this office! You might be the vice-president of this company, but I am _President_, so that means ultimately I am still your employer! I want the amended report – in correct format this time – on my desk by 6. Is that clear?"

"Y-Yes, Mr Kaiba," Mokuba stammered. He scraped the file off Seto's desk and hurried out of the office, careful not to slam the door behind him.

Seto's secretary, Misa, looked up from her work and gave him a sympathetic smile. If she could, she would try to help him. She even tried to secretly do his work for him, but when Seto saw it, he threatened her to let Mokuba do his work on his own or be fired on the spot. Upon hearing it, Mokuba had quickly assured and promised his older brother that he would settle everything on his own.

Mokuba smiled back as he wearily made his way to his desk. He glanced up at the clock hanging from the wall. It was half past 5. How was he going to redo the entire report by 6? _Is this how worklife is like?_ He thought sullenly. _Getting yelled at all the time? Having to comply your employer's demands?_

He loaded his computer and clicked open the document containing his financial report. At the very least, he had to try to come up with a decent report. He looked around to see that Seto would not be exiting his office anytime soon before hissing exasperatedly to Misa, "Misa! I know Seto said you can't help me do my work, but can you just help to oversee my report later? _Please?_"

Misa hissed back. "Don't tell your brother this, but to hell with his threat. Okay, hurry up and show me the current report you have. I'll point out what's wrong and tell you how to correct them. What time does Superboss wants it?"

"Six."

Misa glanced at her watch. "Yups, definitely to hell with his threat. Just give the report to me. Remind me to put in a few spelling mistakes."

XO XO XO XO

_Time goes by, we have so many meetings and partings  
Here I am, relying on someone's kindness, I lost sight of something  
What do you think of now, all alone at night as you count the seasons past?_

Sometime, sometimes the loneliness overwhelms my heart  
I don't want to be all alone, it's painful  
One day, one day you'll find your precious one  
If you look up at the sky, there's a single shining star

Seto pressed the 'next' button. For some reason or another, the song had been playing in his head since the past few days. Eventually he ended up searching for the song and purchasing a compilation album containing the song for fifteen bucks (it was cheaper than purchasing individual songs) so that he could listen to it repeatedly for five times in his study before deciding that he has had enough of it. He knew the real reason the song was stuck in his mind, though; it had nothing to do with music. Unfortunately.

The next song was no more comforting. He glanced at the title: Wait & See/Risk by Utada Hikaru.

_If I turn towards love there'll be an empty space on my left  
So I need you  
Do you think you're protecting yourself  
With that cold attitude?_

_I want the power  
To accept the things I can't change  
And change the things I can't accept_

_Oh baby wait and see  
I know the pain is hard to bear  
But it's because there's a risk  
That you get stronger the more you fight  
It's impossible not to be afraid_

_If the next song is anything like these, I'm asking for my money back_, he thought irritably – trying to convince himself that the songs were not getting to him – as he punched the left arrow button to forward to the next song.

_Did I imagine this kind of future?  
Did I wish for this kind of future?_

_Should I leave my body, or remain trapped inside it?  
Should I pretend I can see it, or is it just not there anyway?  
Should I fight, or raise the white flag?  
I'm not going to run away like a victim_

_They ask me "The beginning or the end?"  
"Did you give up or are you holding on?"  
"Are you shrugging off or in despair?"  
You tell me just to go forward_

Is it because I've become strong  
That I can be without tears?

Even after the song ended, Seto was barely aware that he was still staring emptily at the computer screen. The singer probably sang somebody else's composition that was designated for her, but she might as well have been singing about him. She, and the rest of the singers whose songs he listened to. It was … unsettling. Were people like Gardner (and though he hated to admit it, Wheeler) right? That maybe he centred his life too much around trying to chip away his bad past?

He got up and leaned himself against the window of his study, casting his eyes out to his mansion's front lawn. It was dark outside, save for the lights illuminating the sidewalk of the road leading up to his front porch. Normally he liked to watch the sunset; it proved to be the best sort of therapy for him. But right now, staring out into the pitch black midnight sky, all he suddenly wanted was to just spend time talking to … He swallowed hard as the image of the person popped up in his mind. Tea Gardner.

Seto was anything but keen to admit it, but he liked talking to her. Sure, she talked senselessly sometimes when she wanted to make small talk, like in the limo ride after dinner. But most of the time, she talked sense; he found it hard to disagree with her. He slipped his hand into his pants pocket and fingered a carefully folded note. He should be unhappy about this, but he found himself secretly glad that she could somehow read him like an open book. Could it be that after years of shutting himself out from the rest of the world, he was finally ready for someone to look past his mask and reach out to him? He frowned. The whole concept sounded ridiculous.

A knock came on the heavy door of his study, mercifully breaking his train of thoughts. He turned to face the door and issued permission to enter. The door slowly inched open, and Mokuba made his way nervously into the room. Seto kept his eyes unmoving on his brother.

"Hey Seto," Mokuba started unsurely. "Can I … can I tell you something?" At Seto's nod, he took a deep breath and said quickly as he kept his eyes shut, "I don't wanna be an adult anymore!"

Seto's features remained stoic. "Why?"

"Because… because I'm not ready for it," Mokuba sounded nervous just confessing it to his brother. "Because the truth is, I still have much to learn before I can be an adult. It's not easy being an adult, or trying to be. I just thought that being an adult means that you're independent and you can do whatever you want. But I thought wrong. Being an adult is all about responsibility, and knowing when to make the right decisions at the right time."

Inwardly Seto smiled, but he was not going to let Mokuba go off easily. "Case in point, Mokuba?"

"I'm sorry, Seto," Mokuba apologized earnestly. He felt so bad. Horribly bad. "I'm really really sorry. I know you're mad at me for running away, for shouting at you and … and saying all those horrible things about you. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Seto motioned to Mokuba to come over to him. The black-haired boy did so. Once he was standing directly beside Seto, looking out of the window as well, Seto talked in a kind tone, "I never meant to treat you the way I did. I just wanted you to realize on your own. Experience adulthood, since you were so insistent about it. I didn't want to shout or scream at you; you wouldn't have listened, would you? You'd only be angrier at me."

That only made Mokuba feel worse. "So you took the indirect approach so…" Mokuba's voice trailed off as he looked up at his brother endearingly. Then slowly, he wrapped his arms around his brother's waist. "Thanks, Seto."

Seto glanced down and placed a hand on his brother's head. His voice was almost a whisper as he said, "I'll never hurt you, Mokuba."

The two brothers stayed like that for a while, until Mokuba spoke up. "You know, Seto. You remind me of Dad."

Seto froze. "I'm glad you still remember him." _Because I no longer do._

Mokuba smiled happily as he glanced up at his brother's face. "That's not so hard; you were always a spitting image of Dad, but with brown hair. And he never scolded us, too. When he wanted us to realize our mistakes, he did the same like you do: let us experience it ourselves."

His older brother quickly ruffled his hair and pushed him gently towards the direction of the door. "It's getting late for you. Go to sleep." At his brother's worried expression, he said firmly, "I'll get to bed soon, too."

Mokuba gave him a wary look, but then eventually shrugged as he headed out. "Goodnight, Seto."

"Goodnight, Mokuba." Seto returned to staring out of the window. _A spitting image of Dad, but with brown hair._

Once again, he fingered the note in his pocket. _Son. Father._ He kept his eyes glued on the stars. _Gardner, how could you even know that?_

* * *

**Song One: Precious One by KAT-TUN**

**Song Two: Wait & See/Risk by Utada Hikaru**

**Song Three: Mirror by Ayumi Hamasaki**

**all lyrics are translated versions (cos otherwise, i won't understand them either!)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hoped everyone had a great Christmas! hehe. and during Christmas all the way till now (can you believe it? we're only like 4 days away to 2009!), i managed to come up with this next chapter. i hope you guys like it, cos i had a lot of fun (and laughing) while writing it!**

**in this chapter we'll see cameos of the gang, Mokuba and Roland. otherwise, everything is about our favourite CEO (:**

**and the song is one of my faves, Flavor Of Life by Utada Hikaru.**

**okay, i shall not spoil any of the fun for you guys. enjoy this chapter, yea! and keep those reviews and alerts pouring in! i love to hear your views about this fic!**

* * *

Tea closed her eyes and leaned her head back, resting it against the stone pillar on Domino High's rooftop as she listened to a track on her MP3. It was open to the school population again, and nobody was happier about it than Joey. That was why he was prancing about some distance across her, exulting in the fact that he was finally able to step foot on the rooftop again. Tea was glad that the boys decided to go on with the celebration without her; recently she had been thinking too much about a particular person against her will. She had tried to divert her focus elsewhere – schoolwork, lessons, friends – but every so often in class her eyes would automatically dart towards the empty seat at the back of the class. The same occurred at home; more often than not, she found herself wanting to reach out for her phone and dial a certain number.

_When you say thank you to me,  
for some reason it hurts,  
Like a magic spell that doesn't  
get undone even after the good bye.  
a hint of bitterness.  
The flavor of life_

_Stuck midpoint between friends and lovers,  
like an unriped fruit dreaming about the day of harvest  
because of being unable to just move one more step forward  
what's causing this frustration baby_

A strong gust of wind snapped Tea out of her relaxation, and she shielded her eyes with her hand. As she squinted, she caught sight of a familiar figure searing through the sky above them. Joey, Tristan and Yugi held on tightly to the wire fencing as they fought to maintain their balance. After a while, the gust died down and they all knew who had jumped off the white helicopter without even looking.

"Can't you arrive through the front door of the school like everyone else?" Joey seethed as he ruffled his hair back into place.

"Next time I'll install a door right smack in the middle of the rooftop," came the curt reply. Seto nodded an acknowledgement towards Yugi, who nodded back. He was dressed in his Battle City costume, though Yugi suspected it was less for dueling and more towards his nemesis's just wearing it for casual Friday's sake. Although, Kaiba's attire for casual was ostentatious by any standards.

"Y'know, in order to enter class, you'll have to wear the school uniform," Joey continued on purpose, just to spite the CEO.

Seto was unfazed. Instead, he swiftly turned his back on the boys and headed towards the pillar. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not here for class, Wheeler."

"Oh yeah? Then what? You're gonna demolish the school?"

"Only if you're at the bottom when it collapses."

Tea sighed. "I'd really like to see the day when the both of you stop trying to outdo each other's insult." She pushed herself off the pillar and stood facing Seto, arms crossed. "What do you want, Kaiba?"

His reply was as snippy as ever. "A word with you." He glared meaningfully at the guys.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Guys," she called out. "I'm sorry, but do you –"

"No sweat, Tea," Tristan quickly chirped in, steering his two other friends by the arm towards the exit. At the same time, he eyed Kaiba warningly.

"I'm not going to push her off the rooftop," Seto promised flatly.

"You'd better not" was Joey's last warning before the trio disappeared from sight. Seto waited for a beat before he turned to face Tea. She was immediately taken aback by the changed expression on his face. Any trace of arrogance was gone from his features. He stood beside her and leant against the pillar. Tea did likewise. For a while, the both of them stood in silence, watching the clouds roll by.

Tea picked out a guitar from among the cloud shapes, and she happily pointed it out, "Oh hey, a guitar! Reminds me of Guitar Heroes!"

He looked at her in utter confusion. "Guitar _what_?"

"Guitar Heroes," Tea repeated as she gazed back at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me you've never heard of that." She caught his look. "You're like the numero uno when it comes to technology and you've _never_ heard of that? I'm amazed."

"Ha-ha." He replied sarcastically.

Tea stifled a chuckle. Then she eased off the humour and regarded him seriously. "Is everything all right, Kaiba?"

He seemed surprised by her question. "Yeah." He let a second tick past before he spoke again. "I don't know why I came here, but I just want to say…"

_When you say thank you to me,  
for some reason it hurts_

Tea shook her head inconspicously in a bid to remove the song from her head. But she knew there was no point even trying. She could feel her gut coiling as the reality sank in: she really felt that way.

"Thank – "

"Don't!" Tea cut in more sharply than intended. At his confused look, she quickly amended. "I mean, it's okay. Don't need to keep on thanking me."

"I see," he said calmly. But somehow Tea sensed that there was something else he wanted to say, too. And she was right, because he hesitantly added on, "I … Mokuba thinks it'll be nice if you come over for … dinner. At our house."

If Tea had been drinking something, she would have probably spluttered all over. Fortunately, she was not, but she did not know which one would be better: to accidentally spit in Kaiba's face, or to be standing right here in front of him turning into a tomato. At the back of her head, she regretted passing up Yugi's offer for a drink.

Seto was oblivious to her current plight because he kept his eyes fixated on the asphalt ground. And as usual, he looked disinterested in everything around him, especially with his arms crossed. His body language might indicate that he was insincere about the entire thing, but the tone of his voice suggested otherwise. Silently, Tea wondered when the heck did she even realise this about the young man standing before her.

"When?" she asked when she finally found her voice back.

"Tonight, if you… if you don't mind," Seto might as well be undergoing torture by both the yakuza and the mafia from the way the words were coming out of his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut and spoke in a steadier voice, "I leave it up to you. I just thought it'll be more convenient for everyone since it's Friday. So nobody has to rush to school tomorrow or anything."

In spite of herself, Tea found herself biting back a huge smile. A little voice in her head was telling her to slap herself for being so uncharacteristically won over by the CEO's request, but Tea duly ignored it. Instead, she pretended to think for a while and replied evenly to him, "I'm free tonight, so I guess I can make it."

"Alright, I'll send someone to pick you up at seven," If Seto was trying to conceal his relief, he did it excellently. "Don't be fancy. It'll just be us." He blanched for a while before hastily clearing things up, "As in, the three of us. Me. Mokuba. You." Figuring that enough had been said, he briskly headed back to his helicopter and jumped aboard it. Before the massive white machine took off, he reminded her gruffly, "Don't be late."

As her cerulean eyes watched the helicopter take off to the skies and flying away from the rooftop of Domino High, Tea found herself laughing softly to herself. She knew this entire deal sounded stupid – it did not just sound stupid, it was stupid – but how could something stupid feel so great? Wrapping her arms around herself, Tea allowed herself one last huge grin before she fled down the stairs and back to the classroom.

XO XO XO XO

Seated at the passanger seat of his helicopter, looking out and down towards the heart of Domino City, Seto's mind kept replaying the scene that occurred just a moment ago. Now that he thought about it, he probably should have come up with a script and practiced in front of his full-length mirror. Normally he hated rehearsed acts, but that alternative suddenly appealed to him if he could spare the abnormal nervousness that gripped him just now.

He fished out his mobile phone and quickly typed in an SMS to Mokuba. At the very least, he had to keep his cover story valid. Barely two minutes passed before his Arte rang. Reluctantly, Seto answered it.

"Jeez! Seto, if you want to ask her out for a date, ask her out for a proper one at least!" Mokuba ranted, both excitement and exasperation mingling with every single word. "Don't… I don't know, use some untrue excuse!"

"It's _not_ untrue," Seto replied firmly. "Just get home in time for dinner, dress decently and everything will be true, alright Mokuba?"

Mokuba harrumph-ed. "You owe me."

"Just get home before five," Seto warned, ending the phone conversation and pressing another button to start a new one. "Nana, it's me. I'm expecting a guest tonight. Can you …? It's just one person, Nana. There's no need to cook up a storm. Fine, but remember, no storm."

In front at the cockpit, Roland cracked a smile. "A _special_ guest, Mr Kaiba?"

His employer scowled at him. "Keep your eyes on the air traffic, Roland."

"But it's all clear."

"Whatever."

XO XO XO XO

_You look good in white._

Tea beamed as she checked her reflection one last time. She had followed his orders to not overdress, so she chose a simple white babydoll dress with lace eyelets. Don't be fancy. Check. Her gaze ticked over to the clock on top of her television set: 5 minutes to seven. Don't be late. Check.

_And white? Check_. A smug voice in her head added.

Just as promised, she heard the sound of a car pulling up outside her voice at seven sharp. Tea slung her purse over her shoulders and headed out. A black limo was awaiting her, and the driver promptly held out a door for her. Not forgetting her manners, Tea thanked him and got into the limousine. She sighed as she found herself surrounded in unnecessary luxury; leather upholstery, a flat-screen television and a mini fridge. She had a strong feeling that Kaiba rarely used the facilities.

_Go figure for Seto Kaiba,_ she thought dryly as she leaned back into the seat. _Give the guy a bank with infinite wealth and he splurges them all on technology. Incuding those he doesn't really need._

After a while, she changed her mind. _Well, better technology than anything else._

XO XO XO XO

"Mokuba, when I said dress decently, I didn't mean formal," Seto – unwittingly – nagged at his brother as he quickly browsed through his brother's closet. He tossed a never-worn-before T-shirt at his little brother. "I just mean wear something you haven't worn, or something."

Mokuba caught the T-shirt easily. He wrinkled his nose and suggested at Seto's attire. "Well, you suddenly look nice today."

"That's because I'm wearing something that I haven't worn before," Seto remarked through gritted teeth. It was a lie; he had Mischa send over a brand new striped shirt. This time, it was white with thin blue stripes, tastefully bringing out his blue eyes.

"I can't believe she said yes," Mokuba continued as he slipped out of his shirt and into the T-shirt.

"It's for your sake, Mokuba," Seto remarked.

"You like her, don't you?"

Seto tactfully checked his watch before he headed out of Mokuba's room. "Five minutes to seven, Mokuba."

That only made Mokuba more pleased. "You _like_ her!"

Seto purposely turned a deaf ear to whatever his brother was crowing about.

XO XO XO XO

Although Seto warned her to keep things simple, Nana sort of defied her employer's orders and went ahead to prepare a simple three-course meal. Japanese, this time round, much to her employer's dislike. Then again, Seto never complained about the food he ate; he just consumed it and saved the comment to himself. The only indication that he disliked the food would be him not finishing the food.

Their appetizer was a plate of various sushi and sashimi – Seto only touched the ebiko, the rest were split between Mokuba and Tea – while their main course was Nana's special ramen (she never divulged the recipe to anyone, not even to a very insistent Mokuba). Even their dessert was green tea mochis. Tea was quite pleased with the mini smorgasbord, especially after knowing that everything was home-made. Needless to say, Mokuba was stuffing his face with as much food as possible. Seto was perhaps the only one who swallowed down the food tastelessly.

Mokuba caught the dead look on his brother's face. Teasingly, he chirped to Tea, "Y'know Tea, Seto doesn't like Japanese food. He never finishes them."

Tea raised a questioning eyebrow. "Really?"

"I'm serious! Ask him to show you his bowl. I bet half of his ramen is still there."

As if on cue, Seto pushed the said bowl towards Mokuba. "Just say you want some more, instead of going all around the bush."

Mokuba stabbed his fork into the bowl, hoping to catch some ramen noodles on his fork. He even sifted through the contents of the bowl twice, but there was no trace of ramen. He glared at Seto. "Where did you hide the ramen?" he demanded.

"Grab an X-ray machine and examine my stomach," Seto offered as he took a sip of his spring water.

"But you never finish your ramen, ever!"

"Proved you wrong," Seto smirked.

"I bet Nana put lesser ramen in your bowl!" Mokuba was not going to be defeated. He leapt out of his seat with the ramen bowl in hand and stormed towards the kitchen to check out the 'conspiracy'. Seto only smirked wider. But the smirk faded when he heard a soft laughter coming from across him.

"What's so funny?" he frowned at the brunette across him.

"You, and Mokuba," the laughter gave way to a smile. "Especially you."

"Huh?"

"You're lightening up," she noted softly. "No wonder Mokuba seems so much happier." She chuckled at his confused expression and shook her head. "You don't get it, don't you?"

"Before I go 'huh', mind if we go somewhere else so that you can explain everything to me without getting distracted by the mochis?"

Tea grinned as she followed him out to the front porch. "Yups, definitely lightening up." She leaned against the balustrade beside Seto; her staring out towards the dimly illuminated landscape compound, him facing in towards the front door.

"What do you mean, I'm lightening up?" he raised the question before Tea could comment on his landscape.

"Nice garden," she sneaked in a comment anyway before she went back to his question. "Of course you are. Look at yourself. You're less intense, less irritable, less rude. And you can tease your brother effortlessly."

"I've always possessed a sense of humour," he snorted.

"But always in a… condescending way," Tea argued. "You don't hate _hate_ Joey, do you?"

Seto barked out a short laugh. "I don't have time to hate a mutt like him. I just don't think much of him, that's all. Deserves all my comments, anyway."

Tea rolled her eyes. "One more time either one of you insults the other, I'm imposing a fine."

"If I pay you a hundred, can I insult him non-stop for two hours?"

"I was joking!" Tea huffed. He was starting to sound ridiculous. "Anyway, I was right when I said you didn't hate Joey. Because Kaiba, you've never really hated anyone, even Pegasus despite what he's done."

"Don't bring up the matter of me hating _anyone_, Tea, please," Seto remarked quietly.

"You've let it go, Kaiba," she placed a hand on his arm. He remained unmoving. "You've buried it along with the rubble of KaibaCorp Island. Let it rest there. Don't let it get to you anymore. Just…" She reached out to touch his face. "Stop pretending to hate people, Seto."

That startled him. "What did you call me?"

"Se – oh crap," A hand flew to her mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

Seto gently plucked her hand away from her mouth. "No, it's… okay." He cracked a miniscule smile. "It's nice to hear someone else other than Mokuba calling me by my name proper. It's always Kaiba. I hated that name since a long time."

"So that means I can call you Seto, Mr Seto Kaiba?"

He actually chuckled. "Don't overdo it."

"And you're allowing this, why?"

Seto looked thoughtfully at her. "Because maybe you're my friend?"

Tea could barely conceal her smile. "Reason accepted. So what shall we do now, my friend?"

"Whatever you want to do. After all, it's only nine."

"How about we go catch a movie?" Tea suggested, looking up at him.

"What?"

"I know you know what a movie is," It was Tea's turn to smirk. "So stop playing dumb. Come on, be a sport."

Seto frowned. "No romance or chick flicks?"

Tea held up a 'peace out' sign. "I promise, I swear, I – what else?"

Her new official friend sighed and gestured to his garage. "Think of a new word on the way. I'll see Mokuba off to bed first. Meanwhile, " He tossed his car keys over to her. "You can get in the Ferrari."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: helloooo everybody! thanks for all the reviews! i'm so glad you guys loved the previous chap as much as i did. seriously. that has to be my fav chap so far. muahaha!**

**anw, here's the long-awaited chap 12! we see the duo together, then the story takes on a more individual approach. and there's more of mischa here. i sort of like her chatty character, especially since she reveals so much!**

**enjoy this chap! and as usual, reviews are most welcome!**

* * *

"I thought you said no romance or chick flicks," Seto grumbled as they got back into his Ferrari. They had raced down – or rather Seto had jammed the accelerator – just in time to catch the last show of the day. Tea chose the movie and was the only one who was engrossed in it, Seto merely filled an empty seat. Currently Seto had acceded to Tea's request to drive his convertible within the speed limit as he proceeded to send her home.

"It wasn't!" Tea protested. "I mean, sure there was a bit, but then there's the whole fighting scene in the ballet studio – "

"Half of it was romance!" Seto shot back. "And in school. And vampires sparkle in the daylight?"

Tea rolled her eyes. "It was adapted from a book. And that's how it went in the book."

"I knew letting you choose the movie was a bad idea," Seto continued to complain as he stepped a little harder on the accelerator to catch up with the fading green light. They would be nearing Tea's neighbourhood any moment soon.

"I don't think you'd have chosen anything, if I left it up to you," Tea replied through gritted teeth. "We'd probably be outside the cinema just eating popcorn." She shot him a look. "I would have, anyway."

Seto merely gave a hard smile. He should be annoyed with her by now, but truth was, he … enjoyed seeing her all riled up like that. It was not everyday he had a chance to test out the limit of his stubbornness. Once Tea's house loomed into view, Seto eased the car to a graceful halt directly at the front door. Tea started to reach out for the latch, but Seto quickly stretched his arm out to prevent her from doing likewise.

"I'm not incapable of opening the door on my own!" Tea bristled.

Her new friend stared at her and smirked. "Pretend you are for once." Without lifting his eyes on her, he opened his car door. "Stay put." With that, he hurried out and made it to the other side of the car with just a few strides. The gentleman that he always was, he held the car door out for her. "Now you can get out."

Tea glared at him. _How courteous,_ she remarked snidely in her mind as she stepped out of the car and made it to her front door without so much as a look at him. _First, he stops me from opening the door so he can do it. Then barely ten seconds after that he tells me to get out._

"Tea?"

She turned around grumpily, one hand on the knob of her open door. "What is it, Seto?"

He suddenly lost all trace of his brazen attitude a short while ago; he simply looked ill-at-ease as he stuffed his hands into his trousers' pocket. He kept his azure eyes on the hood of his Ferrari as he spoke, "Stupid movie, but the night was great."

She fought the urge to laugh at his oxymoron. Instead, she simply nodded her head and replied solemnly, "Great movie, and the night was great, too." Probably to spare him of the arduous task of bidding her goodnight, she quickly said, "Goodnight, Seto."

The young CEO she once called Kaiba nodded at her. He watched until the door closed behind her before bothering to take a few steps to the driver's seat. He purposely kept the speedometer at below 10km/h as he took his time to drive past her house. Once it escaped from view, he gunned the engine and let the meter tick all the way till a healthy 100km/h.

XO XO XO XO

Two hours later and Tea still could not get herself to sleep. After giving up tossing and turning on her bed, she had flicked on her study lamp and turned on the radio. The station was on 24/7, but the broadcasters only stayed on-air till 2am. After that, it was just the playing of a selected playlist all the way until the next broadcaster came on air at 5am.

Sighing, she reached out for her novel that she was halfway through. It was the fourth book in the series she had found herself addicted to (the movie she and Seto had caught together was based on the first book), and she had just gotten into the good parts: the youngest sister had apparently made off with her soulmate without saying anything to the rest of the family except to leave a note behind and telling them to follow her instructions. Tea had just about entered the next chapter when the main male character in the book suddenly reminded her of her newly-acknowledged friend. Make that newly-acknowledged annoying friend.

With an irritated huff, she slammed her book shut and returned it to her bedside table. Unthinkingly, she cranked up the volume of the radio. Maybe a slow song would come on, and then it could help her drift off to lala-land.

_Since when have I changed  
I've been exhausted with my busy schedule  
I only thought of myself  
I only thought of what I had to do _

_But step by step I've realized  
You were always here beside me, wanting me and rooting for me _

_I I wanna say these words to you  
I I I love you  
I I wanna say these words to you  
I I I I wanna say these words to you_

_Im going to give back to you  
The love I've been receiving, the great love  
This song is for you, this performance is for you  
I'm going to fill this world_

_So step by step I'll come to you  
Wait, I'm finally going to say the words inside my heart _

_Something you never expected (these words)  
Something you didn't count on (these words)  
Don't be too surprised, please don't be, because it's the truth  
Why do you keep crying? (don't cry)  
If you cry, I feel so sorry  
For not having been able to say these simple words to you _

As soon as the song was done, Tea resisted the urge to hurl her radio to the floor. She groaned into her pillow. _Why is every single thing – the book, the songs, everything! – reminding me of him? And how the heck did I even let myself wish that that song was sang by him instead of RAIN, for me?_

She could tell the answer was right smack in her face; she just refused to believe it. It was just entirely impossible.

XO XO XO XO

"So did you two kiss?"

Seto almost spat out his coffee. Quickly, he wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Finish up your breakfast, Mokuba."

Mokuba scooped the last bit of cereal into his mouth, chewed it quickly and proved to Seto that he already finished it. "All done. So?"

His big brother frowned as he set his toast down. "So what?"

"Did. You. Two. Kiss?" Mokuba asked again pointedly, leaning in closer to Seto across the table with every word.

"Mokuba, she's not my girlfriend," his brother replied calmly. He leaned back into his seat and folded his arms: a sign he was not willing to talk about it any longer. "Besides, didn't you say that you need to drag me for shopping cos my wardrobe was appalling?"

It was Mokuba's turn to almost choke on his milk. He stared at Seto as if his father figure had lost his mind, and then pointed at what his brother was wearing. "You're gonna go shopping in a suit?"

Seto scowled as he got up and straightened his charcoal grey suit. At least today he wasn't wearing a tie. "We have until four today. Then I have to go off and meet some client." For the first time in a long time, he made a face.

Mokuba laughed at his brother's expression, then he suddenly remembered something. He scrambled out of his sea and ran over to the coffee table in the dressing room. When he returned, he held out a lavender-coloured envelope with a rose emblem at the bottom. Seto rolled his eyes.

"Ziegfried," he commented in a bored voice. "I have no wish to read anything from him, so could you?"

The raven-haired boy sighed and tore the envelope open. His eyes scanned the contents, then he summarized it to his brother, "He cordially invited you to the launching of his new product, next Tuesday." He looked up to see his brother snort in disinterest. "Oh come on, Seto. This thing is by invitation only."

"I will go, Mokuba. Maybe he finally heeded my advice to do something about his bad hair."

Mokuba grinned as he read on. "And oh, you need to bring a date."

Seto was not fooled. "You're coming along."

"But I have school the next day!"

"Right," Seto caught the look on his brother's face. "Hurry up now. Didn't you want to go shopping?"

XO XO XO XO

Tea drummed her fingers on the table. She checked her watch. For some reason, she had rung Mischa up and decided to turn the latter's wish to have a girls' day out a reality. They had agreed to meet up for lunch to discuss about a variety of things; Mischa wanted to know about the dinner, Tea was just… well, hoping to have a female friend to spill her secret to.

"Tea! I am sooooo sorry!" Mischa slammed her handbag onto the table. Taking a huge breath, she slowly erased off her pant and took her seat. Pretending to pout, she explained herself, "Mr Boss suddenly needed my help. I was like, what??! It's a Saturday! I don't work on Saturdays!"

"What changed?" Tea questioned laughingly.

Mischa smiled mischievously as she trilled, "Something incredible! Mr Boss handed me a piece of paper and told me to list down all the colours that suited him. I asked why, and believe it or not, he's actually going shopping!"

"WHAT?"

Her Indonesian friend seemed oblivious to her reaction as she rattled on, "I told him he could get the best from the Armani boutique downtown." Tea almost choked on her kebab. "Plus, they can tailor his shirts for him. But he was like, never mind, off the rack would do fine." Another choke on the kebab. "I keep telling him that tailored outfits will look hot on him, but he simply refused his company's official image consultant! Can you believe it? He pays me to make him look good, and then he refuses my advice!"

"He buys clothes off the rack?" Tea echoed in amazement. Mischa mistook it for disbelief.

"I know!" She exclaimed and furiously bit into her kebab. She chewed fast and swallowed it so that she could continue her rant. "I keep telling him, Boss, you're the CEO. C.E.O! You're meant to wear tailored stuffs! Armani, Zegna! Milan labels! But he just stared me down and said that even his suits are off the rack, so why should his other clothes be more expensive than that?"

All through Mischa's rants, Tea nodded and reacted at the right places. She made it look as if she was deeply engrossed in whatever Mischa was saying when really, what she was doing was secretly taking note of more things about Seto. For a guy who came up with a costume specially for dueling, it came as a surprise to Tea that Seto only had two outfits tailored for him: his Battle City silver coat and his favourite purple studded coat. The rest of his outfits were mainly off the rack, but then again, off the rack at top boutiques were to her what tailored outfits were to him. She winced at the thought that highlighted the disparity in their lifestyles.

"So how did that dinner go the other day? Did Mr Boss do nothing but gape at you all night?" Mischa's question woke Tea out of her stupor. "If he did, I don't blame him. That was the cutest mini dress I could ever find."

Tea felt her cheeks flaming. "Yeah, he did say it was nice," she amended the truth slightly. "But I think he was just being civil."

Mischa scoffed. "No way. Mr Boss never compliments a lady unless he really means it. So you must really look hot in that dress. Ha! And who's the genius behind all that? Me! Nobody looks like an idiot when I'm the one dressing them!" She paused suddenly and cued Tea to continue.

The brunette duly did so. "But you should see all the ladies at the restaurant when he walked in. They looked like as if they wanted to eat him or something. I mean, I don't blame them. He looked… well, hot." Mischa's wide eyes indicated that Tea had to elaborate. "He was wearing this black shirt with white stripes…" For some reason Mischa squealed. "And then he had on black jeans with those ID tags hanging from his neck."

Mischa was practically jumping in her seat. "He wore the shirt that I gifted him for his birthday!" Noticing Tea's sudden change in demeanour, she hastily added on with reverence, "I don't have a history with Mr Boss! I just gave him that because I couldn't stand his outfits anymore. Plain boring suits or trenchcoats. Sure, some make him look good. Heck, he looks good all the time, I don't even know why he needs me. But still, Mr Boss needs to wear clothes that make him look hot. Not just good, because good isn't good for stylists like me."

Just when Tea was trying to make sense of her words, Mischa's handphone rang and she quickly excused herself. Tea sighed in relief. She needed time to digest Mischa's words, because half the time she was just half-listening to her friend. Even Joey was not that talkative.

XO XO XO XO

Mokuba ogled at the pile of clothes that his brother decided to purchase. Half of it were striped shirts. For a guy who considered shopping a waste of time, Seto sure had no qualms about purchasing outfits by the truckload. Although to be honest, it was more of Mokuba choosing the clothes and Seto paying for it.

Mokuba held out a white dress shirt that he had wistfully paired with a red tie. "Try this on."

Seto looked at him ridiculously. "Mokuba, you've made me try on that entire pile. I'm not –"

"Just try it on," Mokuba sighed as he shoved Seto back into the dressing room.

Two minutes later Seto stepped out, and Mokuba frowned at the primness his brother put into wearing something that was intended to be semi-formal. Sighing for the umpteenth time in two hours, he dragged himself over to his brother and yanked his brother down by the tie.

"You're supposed to look casual, Seto," Mokuba said crossly as he loosened the tie and unbuttoned the first few top buttons of the shirt. "And you're supposed to pair this with black jeans, and studded belt or chains."

"You've been spending too much time with Mis," Seto grumbled as he headed back to the dressing room to change out.

"Seto, you know," Mokuba glanced again at the about-to-be-purchased shirts. "You don't have to buy all of that."

"You told me I had a horrid wardrobe, so I'm buying all of that so you can't comment on my wardrobe anymore."

Mokuba dropped his face into the cushion of the seat he was sitting on and let out a gurgled scream. Why can't Seto be normal and excited about having a change of wardrobe? But he knew the answer of course. It was because Seto was Seto. Mokuba groaned in despair.

"Don't you want new clothes as well?" Seto's voice rang out. Mokuba looked up. Seto was already back in his suit.

"You'll help me choose?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"Not likely," Seto replied truthfully.

Mokuba groaned again as he shuffled around to look for his clothes now. Mischa was right: Seto was pretty hopeless to turn to for fashion advice.

XO XO XO XO

Ten minutes later Mischa popped back in. Her expression was sullen as she stabbed at her kebab. Something must be wrong, Tea thought immediately. What happened? Could her ex-beau be pestering her again? She opted to stay quiet. Mischa would tell her when she was ready.

The noisy air between them gave way to silence, even until after Mischa finished her kebab. While they were getting up to leave, suddenly Mischa's face broke into a crazy grin. Tea suddenly shivered. Was Mischa as sane as she had assumed her to be?

"Come on!" Mischa grabbed Tea's hand and dragged her to her Mercedes.

Warily Tea got into the luxury car. "Where are we heading?"

"My new project on you!" Mischa beamed.

Mischa drove like Seto. _No wonder they get along so well,_ Tea thought with a stab of jealousy. _Or maybe Mischa does like him. That's why she's so adamant about making him look hot._

_Forgive me, I have to leave_

_I don't like any of this_

_I'm not as stupid_

_As your other lovers_

_Thank you God_

_For showing who he really is_

_I'm sorry it's over_

_So thank you so much_

_I'm sorry, goodbye _

"Oh," Mischa murmured as she jabbed hard at her stereo. At the same time, she took a deep breath and blinked back hard. She did not notice that Tea saw every of her actions.

_What's wrong with her? _Tea continued to wonder as she stared at the Indonesian who was doing a fantastic job keeping her tears at bay.

_You promised_

_That I'm your lover_

_How could you get rid_

_Of all the love_

_I never expected_

_That this will happen_

_A break-up_

_That's what you asked for_

"Isn't there a happier song?" Mischa tried to laugh as she jabbed harder at the stereo. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened. The CD tray popped open and Mischa rashly plonked in among her CD cases. Then she jammed another CD into the player. A more upbeat tune filled the car, and Mischa smiled in satisfaction as she sang along.

Tea reached out to keep the previous CD properly in a case. She was about to put it back among the stacks when Mischa suddenly said, "It's okay, Tea. you can have that CD."

"Huh? But they're in Indonesian."

Mischa chuckled. "I came up with my own translation booklet that I slotted inside the case. I'm serious, Tea. You can have it. I don't… well, the CD used to mean something to me, but I'd rather forget all of that now." She caught Tea's worried look and smiled. "Don't worry about me, Tea. That CD was part of my, well, stupid past with that stupid guy. He bought me this album, you see." One hand fluttered to her eye and quickly swiped against it. "Don't worry, I'm not crying." As if to prove her point, she grinned.

When she diverted her eyes back to the road, Mischa's grin faltered. _I know you love him, Tea. I can see it in your eyes. I couldn't finish my love story. Let me complete yours._

* * *

**first song: I'm sorry Goodbye by Kris Dayanti**

**second song: Biarkanlah (Hati ini telah dilukai) [Let it be (this heart was hurt)] by Kris Dayanti**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: hey guys! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! (fireworks blast in the background)**

**anw, chapter 13 incoming! we finally learn the truth about Mischa, and basically a little bit more about her. and to be honest, i respect her character. muahaha.**

**another note: chap 14 might take a longer time than i intend, since i'm having trouble with my laptop. so stay tuned!**

**hope you guys enjoy this chapter! reviews, keep them coming!**

* * *

Mischa combed through her friend's hair again and bounced the ringlets one last time. She had dragged Tea all around town for spas and facials that promised instant results for the past two days. They were pretty pricey, but she was given a handsome budget to work with, so why not?

Tea stared at her reflection in amazement. She never thought her boring shoulder-length hair could be styled in free-falling ringlets. Or maybe because she never bothered to before. After all, who could ever picture themselves trying out some look they have not even considered? Apparently, Mischa, because when the Indonesian appeared at her home to tow her away downtown for a manicure, her hair was back to black and simply sleek.

Over Tea's shoulders, Mischa grinned as she held up a bottle of hair mousse. "Ta-da! Fantabulous or Oscar-worthy?"

"Oscar-worthy!" Tea issued a heartfelt compliment.

"Okay! Go admire your hair! The function tonight's yours! I'll be right back!" Mischa patted Tea's shoulder as she excused herself to head back to the dressing room. She smiled in satisfaction when she saw her friend so engrossed in her new hairstyle. _At least someone's happy_, she mused.

The newly black-haired Indonesian proceeded to fling open the door of a closet and slowly pulled out long, shimmery outfit. Barely aware of the sad smile creeping onto her features, she caressed the authentic songket cloth as she recalled that this was her favourite outfit. More than that, it was her most treasured outfit; she designed and sewed it all by herself. She could not recall how many times she made trips to Sulawesi just to purchase the made-to-order songket: gold threads on white silk. It was a two piece outfit: the long-sleeved top was made of muslin, deftly fashioned so that it would effortlessly drape itself just over the waist. This was matched by the songket cloth which acted as an ankle-length wrap skirt, with its golden pattern beautifully handwoven throughout. It took her three months to complete it, and then she remembered why she bothered to in the first place.

"I bet he'll notice you wearing this, Tea," she murmured as she forced herself to quell her tears. "It doesn't matter if I wore it before last year to the same function as his date. It doesn't matter to him whether I wear this or my business suit. Because I'm just plain, crazy Mis. But it's gonna be different for you." The tears had decided to fall, anyway. She barely could bring herself to stop it. "When you step out of my studio later, you're gonna be a princess, and that's what he's gonna see. He's gonna think I got this specially for you, and not because I can't bear to see this anymore in my collection."

She let the songket kebaya drop onto a nearby couch and simply cried. "Maybe this is the only way I can ever come to terms with it. I wish I could tell you, I really wish I could, Seto." She snorted. "Seto. And I keep calling you Mr Boss. Why? So I can get it drilled in my head that I can't love you." She rashly wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. "But I do. Stupid, stupid me."

"Why didn't you tell him?" A gentle voice came from behind her. Mischa gasped as she whirled around and shook her head as if her tears would quickly evaporate.

"Tea!" she greeted with a grin. She quickly reached out for the songket kebaya and was about to shove it into Tea's hands when the latter held a hand out.

"I heard everything, Mischa," Tea remarked softly. She placed a hand on Mischa's shoulders and steered her to sit on the couch. "You were with him for so long. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because … I can't." Mischa replied feebly. She felt so bad; she knew Tea felt equally bad, too.

"But why?"

Mischa took a deep breath. She only hoped Tea understood. "Every employee that joined KaibaCorp has to sign a contract stating that they would not be involved in any relationships other than platonic with their colleagues unless it was already established before they joined the company. Mr Boss wanted to maintain a high level of professionalism, and so he used that method. If his employees are insistent otherwise, well, one of them has to resign."

"But confessing won't hurt," Tea argued.

"No, it won't," Mischa agreed. "But things won't work out between us. He's… my boss! He's come to regard me as a sister sometimes. Other than that…" She shook her head fervently. She exhaled loudly and gave Tea a weak smile. "Oh wells, that doesn't matter now. What matters now is you! And I'm not done with you yet! Your make-up, your outfit! I have to make you look like a princess!"

"Mischa…" Tea objected hesitantly. "I can't do this. I can't let you."

The Indonesian frowned at her. "And risk getting a pay cut because I let you stop me from doing my job? Nu-uh. As much as I love him, I love my pay more. Because how else am I going to perm my hair next week?"

Tea had to laugh at the ridiculous notion. Her friend cared more about her hair than anything else, it seemed. But she was adamant about letting Mischa have a chance. "No, Mis. I can't do this. You love him."

Mischa looked down as she thrust the songket kebaya into Tea's hands. "But he loves you. So let's get you ready for him, alright?" Tea barely had time to register shock on her face before Mischa pointed to a stool at the corner where Tea was to stand on. "Shoo, go to your happy place! Put the top on, I'll adjust the skirt. And, keep your attention on your outfit! I don't want to be poking you with needles. You don't need acupunctures now, do you?"

XO XO XO XO

Seto waited impatiently in the backseat of his limousine. Mokuba had forcefully dressed him in a brand new white suit that he had no idea he even bought (he did not, of course. Mokuba had conspired with Mischa to get the tailored suit for his brother). Seto hoped he never had to endure that torturous two hours again. Two hours! What in the world Mokuba had done to him for that duration of time, he had no idea. Already annoyed by the whole deal, he refused to look at his reflection despite Mokuba's insistence. To make matters worse, Mokuba declared proudly at the last minute that he was not coming along. Seto resisted the urge to throttle him.

"Just get into the limo and sit like a good boy, Seto," Mokuba had told him as he waved goodbye. "The driver will tell you when you've arrived. And," He knocked on the window. "Tinted. So you can have a great time guessing your date."

"Mokuba…" Seto let out a low warning.

"Or not," Mokuba finished thoughtfully. "Cos she'll be in the limo with you as well, anyway. Have fun Seto!" He turned to the driver. "Okay Mr Driver! Go go go!"

Seto sighed. The limousine was parked somewhere, so he had a good bet that it was near his supposed date's house. Scowling, he pressed a button that wound the window down and looked out. He immediately recognized the beige coloured building: Mischa's luxury apartment. He cast his gaze skywards. The lights on Mischa's penthouse was still on. Seto made a mental note again to kill his brother. There really was nothing to be so secretive or mysterious about Mischa. Time and again, he attended these sort of functions with her. Sure, some tabloids blew things out of proportion and assumed they were dating. Most of it died down, and those that did not, he politely sent a photocopy of his employment contract, highlighting the part about no relationships beyond platonic.

The lights of Mischa's penthouse went off, and Seto wound the window up and leaned back in his seat. In five minutes time, Mischa would throw the door open and plonk herself beside him, throwing random ridiculous curses at small trivial things in particular, such as lost hair roller or broken lipstick. Then Seto would just snort and tell her to chill out, which she would.

The limo door did swing open, heralding Mischa standing outside the sleek vehicle. But to his surprise, she was dressed plainly in a beige suit. Even her makeup and hair was plain; powder and black eyeliner that matched her long black hair. Not exactly Mischa Hutama when she was about to go for a corporate function.

"Hey Mr Boss!" she greeted him cheerfully. "Sorry I can't make it tonight, but I found a replacement! Initially unwilling, but after a few spa trips, she agreed."

Seto frowned. "What are you talking about, Mis?"

Mischa grinned, made way and pushed a startled white figure into the car. With a quick "Have fun!", she slammed the door shut and rapped on the driver's window, signaling him to drive off. Meanwhile, in the back seat, Seto simply stared at the stranger, who kept her gaze on her lap. She was fascinatingly radiant, like some fair-skinned exotic beauty that Mischa had imported, as indicated by her outfit. It seemed to be traditional, possibly Indonesian. Despite growing up in Japan, her profound love for her homeland ran deep and strong in her veins; she was a true Indonesian, through and through.

Seto was just about to pass a polite comment when she spoke up, throwing him into a state of shock momentarily, "Okay, stop staring. I'm not a mannequin on display."

"T-Tea?" he almost cried out. "What the heck?"

She sighed, and her ringlets bounced slightly. "I know. Mischa kidnapped me for two straight days and dragged me all round town for spas and massages and god-knows-what. Then this morning she appeared, said let's go for a manicure! And then she told me about Ziegfried's function."

"Why didn't she tell me?" He retorted angrily. "Was this her idea?"

Tea frowned. "Actually, she said she was paid."

Seto dropped his face into his hands. "Darn it, Mokuba."

"Don't scold him."

"I'm not. But he's going to get it from me." He threw a glance at her. "Listen, at the function later, try not to mix around much with the people, especially the ladies. If they're nice, then fine, go ahead and talk to them. If they start talking about things and putting you down, ignore them. It's okay if you're rude to them, I give you permission."

"You don't like them much, do you?" Tea guessed.

"Bearable, but not the best of friends," He replied curtly. The door to his limo was opened by a valet at the hotel where the function was held. Once he was out, he held out a hand for her. "Come on," he murmured. "Just cling on to me until we're in. Ignore the cameras."

As expected, the cameras started flashing the moment Tea stepped out. She followed his advice and looked straight ahead, as if uninterested in the camera flashes aimed at them. Seto guided them into the hotel with a grace that could only be attributed to people from his society, his class. Tea suddenly felt self-conscious. Could all of Mischa's efforts fail to cover up the fact that she was nowhere near the said class?

Somehow the journalists thought otherwise: while photographers were busy snapping up photos of them, fashion critics beside them took in their perfectly matched outfits. Tea's songket caught the most attention, and how the gold complemented the white of her outfit perfectly. At the same time, it provided an almost perfect complement to Seto's silvery-white suit. Gold and silver, the two most precious metal that could be found. Equally expensive, equally exquisite.

By the time Tea dared to look around, she was already swept into the ballroom by Seto. She gasped, then flinched, at the extravagance of it all. It might be a product launching, but Ziegfried made it such that it was more of a ballroom party. Glamorously-dressed ladies in fitted designer dresses milled around the cocktail table, some with immaculately-suited men beside them. The self-consciousness struck Tea again as she witnessed how these ladies waltzed their way around the room and basked in the compliments given to them by their male counterparts. There was no way she could fit in this sort of place.

"Will you be alright on your own?" Seto broke her train of thoughts. She glanced up into his eyes. He sounded _and_ looked worried.

"Stay away from the people?" Tea repeated his advice.

He half-smiled. "Be anti-social for once. Stay around here. I don't want to have to look for you."

With that, he turned on his heels and headed to say a decent hello to the host (and to see whether indeed Ziegfried had done something to his horrible hair. Of course, Ziegfried had not.)

Tea shook her head as she watched him go off. It would be a miracle if he stopped sounding so full of himself. But the concern she saw on his face just now? Suddenly Mischa's words resonated in her mind: But he loves you. How was it that Mischa knew? Or was it just her assumption since Tea was the only other female that Seto did not mind to have around?

She pondered over the question as she took a glass of punch from the tray a waiter was holding out, politely declining white wine. To be honest, it was a bit unlike Tea to agree to attend such a formal event like this, but it was more due to the fact that she knew she could spend an evening with him that she gave in to Mischa's request.

"Nice outfit," a honeyed voice came from behind her. Tea came face to face with a skinny but busty blonde in a tight-fitting black dress that had geometrical holes in all the right places. _Flattering,_ Tea thought, _but not on the skank_. _Is she the type of people Seto warned me about?_

"Thank you," Tea replied out of courtesy.

The lady sniffed. "Who's the designer?"

Tea hesitated. "I-I'm not too sure."

The blonde shot her a condescending smile. "That's interesting." She squinted her eyes at Tea's outfit again. "Come to think of it, it's so conservative. All covered and stuff. Sure, those golden patterns look rich, but if you're not even sure who's the designer, I doubt it's real gold, is it? And the silk? Probably cheap silk too. I'm surprised your top isn't made of, I don't know, cheap cotton?"

"It's… my friend got it for me," Tea lied. "And I never really ask her about this outfit. I just thought it's nice."

"So you just wore it without considering who designed it?" The lady fought back a guffaw. "My, my. A commoner we have here, hmm?"

A tall figure suddenly appeared by Tea's side, one hand placed firmly around her waist. "That's enough, Miss Lobo."

The lady's eyes widened, and her face split into a huge plastic smile when she saw who the stranger was. "Seto, darling! I miss you! And how many times have I told you, call me Caroline. I don't like it when you address me so formally." Her eyes dropped to Tea's waist, and she threw him a look of utter disbelief. "You're with her?! I waited for days for you to call me up to attend this event with me, and you turn up with a commoner who has no class whatsoever?"

Tea immediately cast her eyes to the floor. She could feel the guests nearby staring at them; probably they too shared the same mindset as Caroline Lobo. This was all a huge mistake. She should never be here in the first place.

Looking straight at Caroline Lobo with as much coldness in his eyes as possible, and unwittingly tightening his grip around Tea, Seto remarked coolly, "Get over yourself, Caroline. I thought I told you once that whatever decision my stepfather made, I don't intend to carry it along with me or remember them."

"But I do," Caroline purred, unashamedly tracing Seto's cheeks with the tips of her fingers. "Don't you remember, my _fiancée_?"

Tea gasped. Seto, seething no thanks to Caroline, quickly looked down worriedly at her. He barely bothered to stop her when she untangled herself from his grip.

"I – I have to go," Tea whispered, hurriedly making her way out of the ballroom past all the rest of the guests. Only when she was outside of the ballroom did she dare to blink back a few stray tears. Fiancée? What was he playing at?

Back in the ballroom, Caroline smiled obtusely at the sight of a shaken Tea disappearing from her view. Looping her hand around Seto's arm, she asked him, "So when's the official engagement, Seto?"

The irate young man grabbed her by the wrist and pushed her away from him. "There's no such rubbish! Even if I have to be engaged, I'll never be engaged to a person like you!"

"Oh, so you'd rather be engaged to a commoner like her?" Caroline spat on the noun.

"Better a commoner than you," Seto hissed. "Now if you'd please excuse me, Miss Lobo. Or would you rather have my security bar you to get near to me totally?"

XO XO XO XO

_Stupid stupid stupid stupid!_ Tea chided herself silently repeatedly. She had ended up seated at the fountain in front of the hotel, barefooted with stiletto heels in her hands. _I should have known! Me and him? Why did I agree to let Mischa talk me into this?_

She caught sight of her reflection in the water. When she first saw her look, she was elated. Mischa was right: she did look like a princess. The ringlets, the outfit, the shoes… Mischa kept on comparing her to her modernized version of a Javanese princess. She even got into the joke by calling Tea 'Adjeng' all the way while she was sending Tea to the awaiting limo. She had believed that Mischa meant well. But after how everything turned out, did she really?

She felt tears blurring up her vision, and despite being peripherally aware of her makeup, Tea just could not bother trying to wipe them off. Even if her makeup was all smudged later on, who cares? The one guy she had played along with Mischa in the hope of impressing turned out to have a fiancée. A revolting fiancée at that.

"I am so stupid!" she moaned.

"Or not," came a familiar curt interjection. For the first time in a long time, Tea had no wish to hear or even see him. She abruptly stood up and proceeded to leave.

"Tea."

"I'm sorry I ruined your evening," Tea said emotionlessly over her shoulder. "You can go back in. I'll be fine. This place's not for me."

"Why? Because it's filled with ultra-rich snots?" Tea could practically picture him rolling his eyes as he stated the obvious. "Or is it because of that lady who claims to be my fiancée?"

Tea was about to say the rotten latter, but she settled for a simple reason, "I don't belong here with all the rich and famous. That's your world, not mine."

"And you know I don't like this world."

"But whether or not you like it, that's still your world and that's where you belong rightfully," Tea continued on her path to leave the hotel compound. "Goodbye, Kaiba."

"Oh, it's Kaiba now?" Seto retorted snidely. "Just when I started calling you Tea instead of Gardner."

Tea said nothing as she continued on her way. Seto wanted so much to run after her and stop her, but instead he stood rooted to the ground and watched helplessly as she faded from his sight.

_You don't belong here in the world of the rich and famous, but surely you belong in my world. Can't you see that, Tea?_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: sorry it took a longer time to upload this! i'm so glad you guys loved the previous chapter, and the story all the way! you go readers!**

**anw, i'd like to call this chapter The Mischa Chapter. i guess it'd be a fitting way to see her character off in this story until sometime later. but no worries, as much as this chapter lets you guys learn more about her, it also gives you guys a glimpse of what to expect in the next chapter! muahahaha!**

**keep those reviews coming in, alright? everytime i log in and see new reviews from you guys, it always makes my day! i love you guys a lot!**

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Seto closed the lid of his laptop, sighing frustratedly. He had been trying to get some work done for the past few hours – he had checked into his office at 5am, unusual even for him. Overtime was common, but to come in even before the sun was up? Seto considered himself lucky that as CEO, he held an extra set of keys to his office building. Regardless, he did not officially open the building to the rest of his employees until at least 7am.

He gazed around at his spacious office space. Today he opted for the smaller office on the 18th floor; after last night's incident, he had no wish to be in any form of a sociable mood. Not that he was a social butterfly to start with. It was just that today he wanted total seclusion. He even told his secretary to guard his 27th storey office, alongside the "official" story that he was not in. None of his employees except Misa knew about his presence.

Pressing a hand to his temple, Seto squeezed his eyes shut. Almost instantly the sight of Tea popped up in his mind – the way she shyly kept her gaze down when she was shoved into his limo, the way her outfit sparkled and complimented his, then the way she ran away from him twice. His eyes snapped open. He needed to get a grip on himself. Inhaling deeply, he loaded his laptop again. For the next ten minutes, he would attempt to place his entire focus on his work, even if it was just sorting through his emails.

Suddenly his door banged open and a familiar voice chirped, "I knew I'd find you in here, Mr Boss!"

Seto, not looking up from his laptop screen, retorted, "Good morning, Mischa." Without looking, he pulled open a drawer and held out a small wrapped box. "Happy birthday."

"I must have been severely mistaken about the power of your memory," Mischa cheerfully, albeit indirectly, thanked as she took it from him.

"Technology helped," came the grunted reply. It was only after a few seconds passed did Seto realize that there was actually someone intruding on his work. He frowned as he glanced up, and frowned deeper when he saw what Mischa was wearing. He gestured placidly, "Going Brit today?"

Mischa beamed as she twirled quickly so her boss could spare himself half a second to study her outfit. She had on a belted, checkered jacket blouse, paired with a simple black knee-length pencil skirt and ankle leather boots. A fancy hat topped the look.

"So what do you think, boss? Hardy Amies, head to toe!"

"I think you probably went on one of your impulsive sprees yesterday because something unhappy happened," Seto remarked in a bored tone. "Broke up with a new boyfriend or got off a lousy date?"

"Something like that," she agreed vaguely. Mischa removed her hat and held in casually in her hands. "Anyway, Mr Boss? I have two things to ask you."

"Give me six more minutes."

His company's image consultant held her wrist up to her face, where a Solvil et Titus timepiece adorned it. She rolled her eyes at her employer and – just to annoy him – purposely sang loudly, "Ding dong bell! Pussy in the well! Who pushed her in?"

In annoyance, he growled, "Just tell me if you want to end up like Sadako."

Mischa pursed her lips as she tried not to break out into her trademark uncontrollable laughter. Well, at least he knew about The Ring.

XO XO XO XO

Tea turned out from her Geography teacher's lesson. Usually she would not mind paying extra attention during the lesson. Mrs Fujioka always made lessons interesting, making use of various audiovisual multimedia to broaden the students' mind concerning the subject. For the past few days, the topic was on one of Tea's favourite, Plate Tectonics. Based on an unofficial poll conducted by the class chairman at the start of the year, ninety percent of the class of forty students hated the topic. Only four of them loved it and found it relatively easy. Tea was one of them.

_Does Seto like Geog?_ Tea questioned herself as she absentmindedly doodled on her foolscap pad. _Wait, he doesn't have to like Geog. He aced it all the time, and he doesn't even attend lessons._

Sighing, she put her pen down and stared at her "notes". Once she saw it was not the detailed movements of the Eurasian plate and the North American plate, she quickly ripped the page out and crushed it. Seto Kaiba, Seto Kaiba, Seto Kaiba. She desperately needed to get the guy out of her system. But the memory of Seto, enchanting in his white suit and how he effortlessly led them in although Tea was practically clutching his arm with all her might (no thanks to Mischa's insistence that she wore five-inch stilettos), seemed to be playing on loop in her mind. Hell, she swore she could still smell his cologne.

A loud smack on her back transported her mind back to the present, and Tea instinctively glared at the perpetrator and his accomplices. Joey grabbed a chair and straddled it as Yugi and Tristan perched themselves on the tables on either side of Tea. All three boys wore concerned expressions on their faces.

"Ti, you alright?" Yugi peered at her as he asked gently.

"Huh?" Tea ransacked her mind to come up with a plausible story. But for now, "Nothing. Really. Nothing."

"Is it cos of today's papers?" Joey interjected. His eyes seemed to convey a mixture of worry and … was that displeasure? As if to prove his point, he placed the said newspaper on Tea's desk. "Didn't know you've gotten so friendly with moneybags."

"What are you talking – " her words were cut of when her cerulean eyes landed on the front page of the paper. Enlarged to fit almost the entire page was the photo of two impeccably-dressed brunettes, one man and one woman, silver tie and golden skirt. Tea gulped. This was them. Seto Kaiba and her.

"Not everyone noticed, though," Yugi quickly cut in, smiling at her. "So far, it's only us, and that's cos we spent too much time with you to recognize if it's you even if you're covered in mud. I don't think the others will notice."

"But you still gotta explain it to us, Ti," Joey brought the issue back to the forefront. "How come you're so friendly with Kaiba? I mean, you guys even showed up at one of thos e high-profile events together. Are you guys uh… dating? Cos if you are, it'll be a fine time to tell us."

_I wish,_ Tea sighed. There was absolutely no way that she could get out of this rut. She would have to spill the beans to them. And so, she confessed to all the going-ons – right from how the entire thing was ignited by her empathy for Kaiba after his major row with Mokuba all the way to Mischa. Obviously, she left out the part about her personal feelins towards Kaiba. She had no wish to be teased by the boys about it, especially not now.

She expected them to react in the way she had predicted, which was to simply freak out. Surprisingly, they took everything in calmly. Joey was the one who scared her the most. Rather than bursting into a vulgarity tirade against Kaiba, his focus was inadvertently on Mischa. He suddenly looked thoughtful.

"Wait, did you say your friend's full name was is Mischa Hutama?" Joey asked for a confirmation.

"Uh, yes," Tea replied, still unsure what has gotten into her friend. "She's Indonesian. Do you know her or something?"

Tristan's eyes widened. "You mean, the Mischa Hutama?"

Tea crossed her arms and regarded her two taller friends with a glare worthy of a very pissed stern mum. "What. Do. You. Know. About. Her?"

Joey's and Tristan's face grew crimson red. Yugi helped them out by launching into a decent explanation, "They kept this pull-out of the who's who ladies if the country. And well… the Mischa you're talking about? She's the daughter of the Indonesian Ambassador."

"WHAT?"

Sheepishly, Tristan pulled out the said feature from his schoolbag and showed it to Tea. His friend quickly grabbed it and scanned the profile located beside a very posh picture of a younger Mischa. Probably this was taken when she was around Tea's age. Anyway, they were right: she _was_ the Ambassador's daughter. So she was one of those debutantes as well? But she certainly her did not act like it.

Apparently, the thought must have been evidently registered on her face, for Joey added on, "But something happened to her family, I think. There was this one time where she and her family hit the headlines. Her dad wanted her to take over his advertising company, but she refused. Then somehow it ended up that it was made public that they are estranged." He frowned. "I never thought that she would end up working for snooty boy. How did she survive him?"

"Maybe cos money rolls?" Tristan suggested. "After all, she wasn't supposed to get even a single cent of inheritance."

As the boys came up with various theories, Tea remained silent. _I never knew that underneath all those smiles and laughters, Mischa had it rough,_ she realized. _Pushed out of her family, having to start life all on her own._

The last three words kept resonating in her head. _She loved Seto, and she let him go. Mis, how could you live with all this and still be so happy?_

XO XO XO XO

"All two months?"

"Yuppy sir," Mischa nodded fervently. "Clear 'em all."

As Seto tendered her application to clear all her leave, he queried, "What are you planning to do by staying away from this company for that long?'

Mischa held up her gift (a Guess wallet) happily. "Thanks for this, boss. I knew I did the right thing giving my wishlist to Mokuba. Anyway, I … well, I was thinking of heading for Mecca. Y'know, something sort of like a pilgrimage, but not exactly. For peace of mind and all."

"For two months?"

The Indonesian sighed exasperatedly before sharing her planned itinerary with her boss. She would take the first week to try and patch things up with her father. It was always best to seek forgiveness from people you have wronged before you set off for any form of pilgrimage, she explained. She would then take two weeks in Mecca and Medina. After that, she would spend the remaining weeks in Singapore and Bandung, a complete holiday on both accounts. Singapore for the shopping (Seto also promptly handed her his VIP pass for the F1 night race which would be held in the country), and Bandung for nature and all the fresh air that she could ever want.

"I thought of going to the Maldives as well, but hey, no can do. I miss Bandung too much!" she ended off happily.

Seto could not help but appreciate this employee of his more. She had so much balance in her life, and she could keep all of them beautifully co-existing without fail. Mischa was the true epitome of a modern, educated and liberal woman, but the fact that she never compromised her principles and beliefs for anything made her more incredible. He had made the perfect choice to hire her.

He passed her the slip and she gleefully took it. She grinned cheekily, "Thanks Mr Boss! You're the best!"

"But get back in the office when your leave's up," he warned. "Or else I'll just dock your pay before you could utter goodbye to Hardy Amies."

Mischa laughed as she put her hat back on and headed for the door. Just as she was about to exit, she pivoted on her heels until she was facing her employer again. She pulled out a name card from her purse and flung it to him.

Seto caught it easily. He quickly glanced at it. "Aizo's Fireworks?"

His raven-haired image consultant shrugged. "Suddenly my gut feeling tells me you're gonna need it. Besides, you can hire them for KaibaLand's anniversary or something. They can personalize your fireworks, y'know. So when you light it up and the fireworks go off in the sky, you can have hearts and smileys and Kaiba Corp and whatever."

With a huge grin and a mock salute, Mischa continued with her exit. Seto fiddled with the newly-obtained name card. Personalized fireworks?

His handphone beeped. Seto checked it. There was a message from Mischa. He sighed. What else did Little Miss Chatterbox forget to talk about? He pressed 'Read Now' and prepared himself for linked SMSes.

_My gut feeling says you holed yourself up in that office because of Tea. I don't know what happened between you two, but my gut feeling tells me nothing happy. As a friend, I have this to say: you're smart, but a hopeless idiot (sorry) when it comes to girls. My clue: use the name card. See you in 2 months Mr Boss!_

XO XO XO XO

The two girls exchanged hugs. Maybe their friendship was new, but there was no mistaking the bond between them. To think that they were initially brought together as a fashion-obsessed stylist and her victim. They spent lunch talking over various stuffs, including Mischa's past. Finally Mischa opened up and confessed that she was the one who took the decision to leave her house.

"It was tough for me, but I couldn't stand being in a house with a hypocrite regarding something fas important as religion," Mischa had commented with a shrug. "So I figure that rather than I keep on arguing with him day in day out, I'd better leave. But the no inheritance part was true, yeah."

It was only after that did Mischa inform Tea of her decision to head out of Japan for all of eight weeks. Tea was slightly taken aback by her friend's sudden news.

"I hope you have a great time, Mis," Tea said sincerely after they pulled apart. "Two months. I'm gonna miss you."

Mischa gave her trademark tinkling laugh. "It's just two months, Ti! Besides, it's all for inner peace." _To accept what I'm doing for you guys._

"But still…" Tea trailed off. She was sorry for a lot of things; one was to see Mischa go. The other was to realize that Mischa was doing all of this because of her. Because of Seto.

Mischa wondered who was more of a hopeless idiot between the two. Could Tea stop feeling guilty about loving Seto already? She knew she was supposed to feel equally bad for giving up the guy she loved, but since young she was taught to compartmentalize her negative emotions and never regret her decisions. Probably that explained her exuberant character. And her currently half-irritated mood.

"No buts, no still," Mischa said sternly. "Listen and promise, Tea. If Mr Boss asks to see you, just go, alright? I know something's going on cos Mr Boss looked like, well, crap when I dropped by the office just now. But I don't want to know about it. Just promise me that if he asks to see you, just go."

Tea froze at her words. Mischa rolled her eyes and said, "Just nod your head, keep to the promise and make me happy."

Tea would have nodded, but Mischa had already nodded Tea's head for her. Deep down, Mischa bristled, _No wonder they're suitable for each other. They're completely clueless about love._ She frowned slightly. _Let's just hope Mr Boss is bright enough to admit to Tea his feelings. And Tea's level-headed enough to deal with Mr Boss's way. _She shook her head. _I can't believe that I can see all of this in them but they themselves have absolutely no idea about it. Yeesh._


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: hey guys! i'm back with chapter no. 15! i'm glad that most of you admire mischa, so i hope that the previous chapter was fitting enough to see her out of this fic.**

**anw, in this chapter we go back to our main characters and the gang. and will our beloved CEO ever come to a realisation that what he's feeling is L-O-V-E?**

**keep those reviews acoming!**

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Tea kept her eyes glued to the whiteboard although technically, there was nothing written on it. Her Economics teacher was droning on about macro-economy (they still had not moved on from that topic, indicating how slow the teacher was) and to be honest, nothing was entering Tea's head. The only reason she sat so rigidly was because suddenly Seto Kaiba decided to attend school that day, and he sat directly behind her. To make matters worse, she could feel his eyes drilling onto her back. She sighed. Hurry up and end the lesson now.

She felt something slip down her chair. Discreetly she reached behind and pulled out a folded note. She knew who it was from, and she was in no mood to read it. But for posterity sake, she unfolded it anyway. Written on it in his trademark neat cursive were the words: _We need to talk._

Tea barely spared a moment to think before scrawling a flat _No_ and tossing it back to him.

She heard a frustrated sigh before the note came back to her with: _It's an order_. Gritting her teeth, she practically stabbed the note with her pen as she replied: _I don't take orders from you_. This time round, she did turn around and resisted the urge to slam the note on his desk. Seto's features remained stoic, not even flickering with surprise or shock throughout.

_He's such an arrogant piece of… _Tea did not finish her thoughts as it was overtaken by her immediate reaction to flee the classroom the moment the bell rang. She was not even aware that her friends noticed her rash reaction, or that Kaiba leapt out of his desk to go after her.

"Are you sure they're not dating?" Tristan asked doubtfully as he stared after them.

"Let's go investigate!" Joey crowed, bouncing out of his seat and already tailing the CEO. When he realized that his friends remained unmoving, he turned around and went, "What? It's not called being a busybody. It's called protecting our friend. Come on!"

"Leave it, Joe," Tristan remarked unsurely. "It's Kaiba. Other than being an asshole, he's a decent guy."

Joey huffed, but decided that Tristan had a valid point. He could not stand Kaiba, but he had some level of trust with that guy.

Meanwhile, Tea had briskly walked down the corridor and was just about to step out of the school building when an arm shot out in front of her. She glanced up and glowered at the obnoxious young man standing before her.

"Which part of 'No' didn't you understand?" she asked acidly.

"Which part of 'We need to talk' didn't _you_ understand?" Seto shot back, equally cold. Without warning, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her outside to a deserted corner. It was near the main door, but nobody ever passed by it so it was a perfect spot for their 'discussion'.

"Let go of me, Kaiba!" Tea finally managed to wrestle her wrist out from his vice grip.

"I'm really just Kaiba to you now all over again, isn't it?" He almost spat the words out, especially his surname. He sounded almost resentful of the situation, but Tea was not so sure.

"Then what do you expect yourself to be?"

Tea had no intention to make herself sound harsh, but her words must have impacted him. Once she saw his dark blue eyes widen at her in shock, she almost regretted her words. She bit her lip. But this was better for them, isn't it? There was just no way they could ever be involved in any form of relationship, friends or more. This was an impossible game. Seto had toiled hard to get himself where he was now – rich, famous, a rightful member of the elite society – and was she going to ruin it? Tea found it stupid, but if this was a fairytale, she would be a commoner trying to run after a prince who deserved a nothing less than a princess. Besides, wasn't Seto engaged?

After a few moments of silence, Seto finally spoke in what could almost be passed as a whisper, "If I recalled correctly, you said I was your friend Seto."

"We – we can't be friends," Tea replied, trying not to make it evident that her voice was shaking. "I…"

"Is it because of Caroline?" Seto locked eyes with her unsmilingly. "Because of what she said? I'm not and I _won't_ be engaged to her, Tea."

"I…"

"I don't care about my status, Tea," Seto carried on. Tea could only divert her gaze uneasily to her shoes. Was there nowhere for her to run? "Logically speaking, I should be the one who should be bothering about stupid stuffs like that because I have a reputation. You don't. I never care what people say, so why should you?"

_Because I care about what people would say about you._ Tea bit back those words, though. Instead, she just touched his face slightly and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"Tea…"

By then, she was already walking away from him. Seto resisted the urge to hurl his briefcase against the wall; he did not need attention right now. Why was it so hard for her to understand why he wanted her in his life? He would have let her go, but he couldn't. He just could not imagining himself losing her from his life. To just let her walk away from his life totally.

_I have no idea why I'm feeling this way, Gardner,_ he thought through gritted teeth as he set off for his limo. _But all I know is that I care for you. A lot._

XO XO XO XO

The moment Tea got back into her room, she slammed the door close and threw herself onto her bed. Within seconds, her pillows muffled her sobs. She knew her words hurt him – she saw it – but that was what was right. Wasn't it? If it was the right thing to do, then why did it hurt so much now?

_Your face, your heart and everything about you_

_Will always be in my heart_

_But it's impossible for me_

_To reach out for your love_

_Although deep down_

_I want to be with you_

_Love requires sacrifices_

_Even if it meant waiting forever_

_But I know_

_You're not meant for me_

Tea threw a pillow at her bed stand, knocking the radio down and effectively putting an end to the song. She hated herself for hurting him. She knew he probably thought she was turning her back on him and betraying his trust in her. She hated herself for falling in love with him despite knowing who he was and more importantly, who she was. But rather, she felt that most of all, she hated herself for lying to him as if he was of no importance to her.

_I'm so sorry, Seto,_ Tea sat up on her bed and wiped her eyes furiously. _But how can we be friends when I want us to be something more? How can I stand being just your friend when I love you and knowing that there's probably no way you'd love me?_

_I love you, Seto Kaiba. And I'm sorry I'm too much of a coward to admit it to you._

XO XO XO XO

"How about we have a costume party for KaibaLand's anniversary?" Mokuba suggested excitedly. "I think it'll be fun, especially for the kids from the orphanage that we thought of inviting!"

"Do whatever you want, Mokuba," Seto replied sullenly.

"But it's your event!" his brother protested.

"And I told you, do whatever you want!" Seto accidentally snapped. Almost immediately he cooled down and apologized to his little brother, "I'm sorry. I just have a lot of things on my mind."

Mokuba slowly walked up and sat himself on Seto's desk, facing his brother. Furrowing his eyebrows, he leaned forward and looked straight into his brother's blue eyes. "You've been like this for the past two weeks. Is something wrong?"

His father figure shifted his eyes quickly and busied himself with pulling a few clipboards out from his drawers. He flipped through them and set aside a couple containing contracts that required dateline extensions. Once he was satisfied that there was nothing else, he held those clipboards out to Mokuba.

"Get these to Misa," he said tiredly. "Tell her that these require dateline extensions, so they're on high priority. And you can settle the anniversary thing with her as well. I put you in charge."

"Huh? But Seto…"

Seto, who was already standing up and adjusting his purple coat, shot him what was supposed to be a stern but pleading look. "Mokuba, please. Just take on this task for me." He pulled out a copy of a name card from his pocket. "Here's who to contact for the fireworks. I leave all the creativity to you."

"Where are you going?" Mokuba leapt to his feet, attempting to trail after his brother, but the latter held a hand up to stop him.

"Just somewhere." He ruffled his brother's hair as affectionately as possible. "Don't worry. I'll be back by tonight. But don't stay up to wait for me. I don't know what time I'll be back."

With that, he exited his office without another glance at his brother. Misa stood up upon seeing him, but he dismissively waved her off. He was used to isolation, but more crucially, right now all he wanted was just some time to think on his own.

He took the elevator down all the way to basement three, and then briskly walked out towards the adjoining multi-storey carpark. For the past week, he preferred to be driven to and from work. But today, he felt exceptionally moody and opted to use his rarely-driven Lexus instead. His Ferrari offered no comfort to him today. He was not looking for great speed, he was just looking for a ride that could offer him silence and good mileage.

That was precisely why he was driving all the way out of Domino City to a place he had right outside town. It was supposed to be a summer home, but even when summer came, Seto never went there so it was as good as setting his foot for the first time there. It was simple, nothing grand or outstanding from the rest of the houses in the district. Then again, that was exactly why Seto bought it in the first place: to just blend in with the rest for once without people recognizing him from 5 metres away.

He got out of his Lexus and made his way to the front door. The only difference between his house and that of the others was that rather than a normal lock, he made use of a state-of-the-art fingerprint identifier to lock and unlock the door. It was less of his penchant to be surrounded by his company's own technology than it was for his and Mokuba's complete privacy. After the thorough fingerprint scan, he let himself into the house and headed for his room upstairs.

It was smaller than the one at his mansion, and like everything else in the house, simplicity overtook luxury when it came to furnishing. Seto removed his coat and laid down on the single bed, his eyes focused on the plain ceiling. Times like this, solitude was the best option.

Seto shook his head. He could not be… in love with her, could he? Then again, what was falling in love like? Sure, he loved Mokuba, and he did love his biological parents once. But that was different; they were family. That love was imbued from birth. But this? Was this infatuation, or love itself? He had no idea.

He knew that what he was about to do was stupid, and he was aware of it. Then again, what was he supposed to do? He got out of bed and dragged himself over to his desk, switching on the computer. It worked on a high-speed modem, but Seto found himself having to be patient while the Internet did its search. Maybe he was too used to having top-speed wireless technology at his fingertips.

The search finally came up, and he scanned the various links. The first few were basically definitions from various dictionaries, but he knew those were not relevant. What he wanted was some article or at least a website that could provide a deeper insight into his search. Finally he hit jackpot. He skimmed through the web page before hurriedly shutting the computer down.

_This is too much. It's ridiculous! _He tried hard to plant these denying statements into his mind as he leaned back into his chair. _This sort of thing happens in movies, stories or whatever. Surely this can't be happening in reality. My reality._

He sighed. _Why am I kidding myself?_ He reached for his coat and shrugged it on. As he walked out of his room, he caught his reflection in the mirror above the dresser. He stared back at a pair of blue eyes that he was used to seeing: seemingly cold but beneath all that raged determination and passion for the things he liked in this world. Those were the eyes of a fighter. This time round, he would have to fight not for some title, but for something more. And this time round his opponent was none other than himself.

XO XO XO XO

"Are you sure they're not dating?" Joey asked, voice hushed as if discussing a conspiracy, as he pointed to Tea who was standing by herself at the entrance of Kame Game Store. "Cos for the past two weeks ever since they talked, Tea was doing nothing but be so… boring."

"Or maybe Kaiba insulted her?" Tristan suggested, but even he sounded uncertain of his own words.

"Dude, Kaiba never insults her," Joey shot Tristan an incredulous look.

"Precisely, cos he never insults her. So who's to say that when he does, he insults her bad?"

"But for what?" Joey wondered out loud now. If Tea was paying any attention, she would have heard him. Then again, the question was if. Apparently, Tea was not. "I know he insults me for fun –"

"Only cos you try to out-insult him," Tristan muttered.

"But Tea?" Joey carried out, oblivious to Tristan's interjection. "They don't even duel each other. And according to Tea, they were sort of friends. So why –"

Tristan pointed to the entrance where Yugi was already beside their female friend. "I say we wait for Yugi. If there's anyone Tea could spill stuffs to, it's him."

"Go Yugi," Joey added on sourly, plonking himself onto a seat beside Tristan.

XO XO XO XO

Usually a cloudless day indicated a warm day, but strangely enough, although the sky was a clear blue today, it was still chilly. Or perhaps it had to do with the sky reminding her of a certain someone's eyes. Tea resisted the urge to slam her head against the door of Kame Game Shop. How many times had she told herself that she would forget about him, and everything about them? How many times had she tried to convince herself that what she was doing was the right thing? But how many times had she failed?

She heard the shuffling of feet beside her, but she paid no attention. She seriously was in no mood to join in the fun with her friends. Initially she had thought that maybe joining them in lounging at the game shop after school would help to cheer herself up. But it turned out that she spent the past two hours moping around.

"Tea?" Yugi's voice startled her, and Tea looked down.

"Oh hey, Yugi," she tried to smile, but it was so evident that it was forced.

"I know you've something on your mind, Ti," Yugi said carefully. "If you don't want to tell me, then that's alright. I respect your privacy. But if you do want to tell me, then just go ahead. I promise, my lips will be sealed."

Tea hesitated. To tell the truth, she needed to let out whatever was inside her really badly. She would have rung up Mischa or Mai, but none of them were reachable. Besides, with both of them somewhere in another part of the world, she was not so sure if she wanted them to waste money on international calls. Could she tell Yugi? Would he understand? Yugi had been her childhood friend, they practically grew up together. But he was a guy.

Tea decided to take the risk. "Okay, but promise me it'll just be between the both of us."

Yugi held up a 'peace' sign. "Twinkie swear, Ti."

She smiled and peered over his shoulder. "Okay, let's head out. I don't want them to overhear. I don't think Joey will contain his cool this time round."

XO XO XO XO

Seto glared at the shopkeeper. He did not want to use crude methods until seriously required. But the elderly shopkeeper was getting on his nerves.

"I said, I don't want personalized fireworks!" Seto repeated himself heatedly. "That's a load of bull!"

"But Mr Kaiba, didn't your company just purchased close to a hundred personalized ones?" The shopkeeper was adamant about his deal. "Surely you won't mind adding on at least fifty more?"

"I just need ten of them," Seto placed his order through gritted teeth. "Ten normal ones. No smileys. No hearts. No names. Normal. The ones where you light up and boom! It goes up in the sky with two or three colours. Get it?"

"Are you sure you don't want the personalized package?" the shopkeeper asked again meekly.

"NO MEANS NO!" Seto lost his top this time round. "TEN NORMAL ONES! NOW!" The shopkeeper was about to open his mouth again, but Seto was giving him no chance. "And I'm paying in cash!"

The shopkeeper, petrified by his customer's outburst, scuttled to the back storeroom to locate his customer's orders. Two minutes later he came back out, his arms full of fireworks. He quickly packed them into a plastic bag and handed it to the impatient CEO. Without a word, Seto slammed a bill onto the countertop and stormed out of the store.

XO XO XO XO

"I know I'm supposed to be knocked to my knees in shock after hearing all this, but I'm actually glad to hear this," Yugi remarked with a huge grin.

"Glad?" Tea asked confusedly. "Why?"

"Yeah, cos at least there's someone else who cares for Kaiba other than Mokuba," Yugi explained seriously. "I always try not to be hard on him, cos I know how hard life must be for him. Imagine, living in a world where everyone hates you except your brother and maybe his closest employees."

"I guess," Tea replied doubtfully. She already felt relieved being able to get rid of certain stuffs from her chest, even if it was to Yugi. "But there's no point if he doesn't want it, right?"

Yugi laughed quietly. "He does and he appreciates it, Tea. He just doesn't acknowledge it like he should." He peered at her for a while. "Just go and tell him, Ti. He's usually dense about this sort of thing."

Tea went tomato red. "B-But... like, how?" she sounded flustered as she fiddled with her fingers.

Her long-time friend chuckled. "Well, your friendship was initiated by a note. How about the same for this time round?"

This time round, Tea gave Yugi her most sincere smile in a long time. "Thanks, Yug," she said, leaning in to hug her friend. "Thanks so much for understanding me."

"No problem, Ti," Yugi patted her back awkwardly. Suddenly, his voice changed. "Oh hey, I think somebody's here to see you."

"Huh?" Tea pulled back to see who Yugi meant. "Oh."

Standing outside a black limo was Roland. The window of the passenger seat of the limo rolled down, and out popped Mokuba's bushy head. "Tea! Get in!"

Tea turned to look at Yugi. With a reassuring hand squeeze, Yugi nodded. The brunette threw him a grateful smile and ran over to the limo. She was ready.

* * *

**music did influence my writing. muahaha!**

**song used: Kau Bukan Untukku (You're Not Meant For Me) by Agnes Monica**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: hey guys! i know all of you are wondering what Seto's up to for the past two chapters. so i finally present you with the answer in Chapter 16!**

**to be honest, i was kinda worried if Seto would turn out to be OOC here, but then again he was a man not used to dealing with his emotions outwardly. heck, he even had to research about his feelings.**

**anw, i hope you guys will enjoy this as much as the previous ones! keep those reviews acoming! ILY all!**

* * *

Mokuba waved her out of the limo. Tea pushed the door open and glanced outside. They had pulled up in a park. How long had they been driven in the limo? They set off from Kame Game Shop at around 6pm, and now the sky was already pitch black. Was it past dusk already?

"I don't mean to sound rude, but you have to get out now, Tea," Mokuba continued waving her out.

"You're abandoning me in a park at night without telling me why?" Tea asked him in disbelief, one foot already outside the car.

"I'm sworn to secrecy," Mokuba said solemnly. He held up a hand, as if about to take an oath in court. "Now, please Tea. Shoo. I don't wanna get scolded."

With that, Tea stumbled out of the limo and watched helplessly as the black machine sped off. She shivered as the chilly evening breeze blew in. Mokuba could not let her get back home to get a jacket over her school uniform, couldn't he? She walked further into the park. Thankfully, there were streetlamps to light up the way.

"Tea."

The voice almost made her jump out of her skin. Nevertheless, she whirled around and came face-to-face with …

"Seto," she acknowledged him. In spite of herself, she found her voice trembling at the mere mention of his name.

He took another step towards her and held her gaze steadily. When he spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically soft, "Come with me." At the same time, he held a hand out to Tea. Without thinking twice, Tea took it.

They walked hand in hand in silence. Tea could not resist peeking at him. She knew he was trying to act calm and collected, but the way his jaw was set indicated he was anything but. There was no doubt that he was as tense about what was to come as she was. Still, in all his tenseness, he looked confident like he always was. Tea resisted a smile. That was one of his traits that made her like him. Not many guys could exude that level of confidence no matter what they were faced with. In short, he made her feel safe.

The two of them finally came to a halt at a bench. Seto kept his gaze in front, unmoving, as he said, "Why don't you take a seat there?"

"Huh? Where are you going?" Tea gingerly lowered herself on the wooden bench. However, she kept her eyes glued on him all the while. Seto seemed oblivious to her as he proceeded to a few sticks located not far from where she sat. In the dim light, it was hard to make out what those 'sticks' were. All she could see was that Seto was knelt before those sticks. She squinted hard, hoping that that would allow her to see more clearly. Then again, the lighting was at fault. "What are you doing?"

Seto said nothing. As he walked back to the bench, he threw something small off his shoulder. Tea scratched the nape of her neck in irritation. What was going on here? Why was she in the dark about all this? Most importantly, why was she dragged from her friends to the middle of nowhere? Alright, not exactly nowhere; she was well-aware that they were in Domino City's largest park because she recognized the fountain at the entrance of the park. Still, it made her slightly uneasy that she was stuck in a deserted park with no one but Seto Kaiba.

"Don't be," Seto suddenly murmured, as if he could read her mind. He was perched on the handle of the opposite side of the bench, hands in his pants pocket. He kept his face down, his bangs casting a dark shadow over it.

Tea froze. He looked exactly like how he looked like during his drunken episode that time. He _was_ acting strangely, but surely he could not be drunk now, could he? As if aware that Tea was coming up with ludicrous theories about him, Seto just raised his index finger skywards: the universal sign for 'Look up'.

She caught the message, and she did. At the same time she tilted her head back to have a clearer look at the night sky, her breath was almost knocked out of her. She did not know whether to cry, scream or yell at the sight of yellow, red and green sparkles littering the dark expanse. They shot up to the sky like missiles, but exploded in such grandeur fashion that Tea could hardly believe that she was in the park and not at some stadium for Independence Day. There were no significant patterns, just the normal sprouting of sparkles. Yet Tea felt that no other fireworks display could beat this one.

"I… Oh my gosh!" Tea was clearly at loss for words as she turned to face Seto. There was no mistake about the ultra-huge smile that threatened to slice her face into half, or the rivulets that had gone astray and was now trickling down her cheeks. "Se-Seto. What… How… Why…"

"You liked it?" He was still not looking at her as he eked the question out in a hoarse whisper.

"I loved it!" It was a wonder Tea managed to express her excitement in a quiet voice. "I don't know what to say, Seto." She swallowed hard. "Why did you do all this?"

"Because… because…" He finally sighed and shook his head furiously. "I want to say it, but I just… can't." Seto carefully raised his head and swiveled it so he could look into her questioning eyes. He said evenly, but almost painfully, "I've never even said it to Mokuba." With that, he reverted to his earlier pose.

Tea bit her lip hard and dropped her gaze to the ground. She blinked back hard. He loves her? He loves her? And he couldn't even voice out his emotions?

_I've never even said it to Mokuba._

_Did you put so much coldness and emptiness into your soul that you forgot how love felt?_ She got up from where she sat and stood directly in front of Seto. Gingerly she reached out and cupped his face, one hand on each cheek. It felt warm, and wet. Tea could sense tears welling up in her eyes again when realization hit her. In his own, silent way, Seto Kaiba was crying.

With her thumb, she stroked the tears upwards past his cheek gently. "Say it," she requested softly.

"I-I can't."

Tea choked back a sob and leaned in so much so that their foreheads touched. "Seto, just say it." Still, he defiantly refused. "Then listen to me." Taking a deep breath, she carefully breathed the words out, "I love you, Seto."

His bangs was making it impossible for her to see his eyes, but she could sense that he had them shut tightly as he whispered back, "Me too."

In spite of the situation, Tea smiled. Yugi's words rang again in her ears: He does and appreciates it, Tea. Yugi was right. He did want her in his life. He did care for her. And all that because he loved her. All these thoughts brought more tears to her eyes.

Instinctively, she put her arms around Seto's neck and rested her face on his shoulder as she let herself cry. She felt him stiffen for a while, then he too relaxed and soon Tea could feel his arms encircled around her. As she wept, her body shook. Seto remained motionless; the only indication that he too had let his guard and his walls down momentarily was the damp warmth that Tea felt on her shoulder.

They stayed that way for what seemed a very long time, both preoccupied with their thoughts. Two minds, but with the same pounding question: Where do they go from here? Neither of them were sure of the answer. If they brought their relationship to the next level, would it strengthen them or jeopardize what they already had? Either way, the decisions hurt.

"Thank you," Tea spoke into his ear as she still clung to him. "For the fireworks. For everything."

"I owe it to you, Tea," As usual, he disagreed. "Thank you for staying by me and looking past who I am. I've hurt you a lot."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I have," Seto said firmly as he pulled apart from their embrace. This time round, it was he who had his hands cupping her face as he stared deep into her eyes. "I promise you, Tea, I won't hurt you anymore. I won't let anything or anyone hurt you."

Tea stared back fiercely at him through her tears. "Stop blaming yourself, Seto. Stop it. Stop punishing yourself by blaming yourself for everything."

He said nothing, and Tea let the matter rest. After a few beats, he asked contritely, "So who are we to each other now?"

"Whatever you want us to be," she remarked quietly.

She expected him to say 'couple', or at the very least revert back to 'just friends' or 'just acquaintances'. That was why she was not prepared for his warning, "If you want a relationship, I can't promise you anything. Except your safety."

"Oh what, you want to place security guards all around my house?" The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, Tea wished she had zipped it. But could he not sound so bland about the possibility of a relationship? She understood the nature of his work, and she knew the one thing that he seemed to have plenty of but kept acting as if it was not enough: time.

Seto frowned at her. "You'd rather just have a security system?"

Any traces of whatever touching moments there were suddenly eradicated from her system. Wiping her nose with the back of her thumb, she glared at him incredulously. "What do you mean, just have a security system? Seto, I don't need that amount of security. I've gotten around everywhere just fine."

Even he was starting to sound annoyed by the sudden change in the atmosphere. "Then what do you want?"

"This."

With that, Tea leaned in and carefully placed her lips on his. There was no hurry or overbearing passion. It was the sweetest and most patient kiss she could ever imagine – it reflected nothing else than what was in their heart: pure love.

When they pulled apart, Seto looked uneasy. Tea wondered if it was the wrong move. But he had kissed her back, so how could that be wrong? A dark thought descended on her. Maybe she was a bad kisser, and he only kissed her back for courtesy sake. So who would he render as a good kisser? His supposed fiancée? Tea was surprised how irritated she got everytime she thought of that woman.

"So you want a relationship?" Tea was not sure whether he was unhappy about it or pretending to be unenthused by it.

"I told you, I left it up to you to decide."

"Fine," he stood up, dusting the shoulder of his coat where she did not cry on.

"What?"

"What what?"

Tea resisted the urge to smack him in the head like she would have done to Joey when the blond was playing dumb. "So what's our status?"

Seto shrugged. "You wanted a relationship. And I said fine." He checked his watch. "You have school tomorrow. I'll send you home."

As she stared after him, she wondered what she had gotten herself into. How in the world did she get involved with a man who could slip in and out of his cold demeanour whenever he wanted and who said 'Fine' instead of properly asking her to be his girlfriend? And the best part? He took off for his car on his own, leaving her to catch up with him.

_You're lucky I love you,_ Tea thought heatedly as she stomped after him. _Otherwise I'd have think of a way to beat you to pulp._

XO XO XO XO

Tea stepped out of her house, adjusting the strap of her backpack. She yawned and stretched. A few more days till the weekends arrive. But for now, she needed to endure the coming school days. Workload had increased tremendously, probably since the school decided to start preparing them for the university entrance examinations. She was dealing quite okay with it; so far, her friends except Joey were too. Maybe it had struck all of them that this was an important year.

Her thoughts deviated to last night's incident. She could feel herself grinning stupidly. She had gone to bed thinking of nothing but the fireworks. Seto Kaiba was the last person she would expect to surprise a girl with fireworks. Then again, he had a tendency to be showy about things. So probably that fitted him.

They had rode in silence on the way back home. Tea expected him to send her to her doorstep, and probably bid her goodnight with a kiss. Rather, the former had not happen, but the latter? Partially. He had kissed her, but not on the lips. Instead, he had quickly brushed his lips against her forehead before indicating that she should go. Not exactly the most romantic move when you had just gotten yourself a girlfriend.

A car honk startled her. Tea looked up to see a dark blue Lexus parked at her driveway. The same Lexus that sent her back last night. She frowned. What was he doing at her house at 7 in the morning? Sighing, she neared the car. The moment she stood beside it, the window to the driver's seat rolled down.

"Thought I'd send you to school today," Seto remarked, glancing at her with a faint smile.

"That's… uh, nice of you," Tea replied unsurely. Did her boyfriend possess multiple personalities or what?

"So get in," he reached out to push the front passenger seat door open for her.

Just as Tea was about to scurry over to the open door, a loud voice hollered from down her street. "Tee-eee-aaa!"

Upon hearing the voice, Seto's features considerably changed. The smile gave way to a scowl. Tea looked up and grinned at the voice as she waved her hands wildly, "Joey! Tristan! Yugi!"

_The geek squad, _Seto added on silently in his head. He kept his eyes on the steering wheel, his fingers drumming impatiently on it.

"Eh, Kaiba?" Apparently Joey noticed the CEO too. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"None of your business."

Tea shot her boyfriend a look. Then she turned back to her friends and waved them to a distance not far from the car. She had the mind to specifically drag Joey by the arm as an act of restraining him from storming up to his nemesis and well, initiate an insult-trading session. They could do that later after she explained everything.

"Guys, Seto … uhh, I mean, Kaiba …" Great, how was she going to phrase this?

Joey stared at her ridiculously. "Did you just call that moron by his first name?"

Tristan shared the same reaction as him. Meanwhile, Yugi was already slowly backing away from the confrontation, hiding a smile. He already knew what the bomb was, anyway. Instead, he retraced his step until he was beside Kaiba, who was leaning on his car. Maybe it was better for him to have a short reunion with Kaiba.

As he walked away, he heard Joey scream out "WHAT??!!!"

XO XO XO XO

Tea sighed in frustration. She had just told them the truth, and this time round her prediction did come true: they simply freaked out.

"How could you end up liking a egomaniacal jerk like him?" Joey fumed. "And be his girlfriend?" He snapped his head towards Tristan. "Tris, you hearing this?"

"Yeah," Tristan chimed in. Compared to Joey, he was ten times calmer about the news. "Look, I know Kaiba's not a murderer and stuff, but he's Kaiba. Are you sure about this, Ti?"

Their female friend cast her eyes skyward as if pleading for the higher powers to knock some sense into her friends' head. "Guys, I know what I'm doing. Trust me, please." She eyed Joey. "I know you can't stand him. But he doesn't hate you, Joey. He just uhh…"

"Let me guess, doesn't think much of me?" Joey completed sarcastically.

Tea nodded lamely. "Yeah. At least, that's what he said."

"And you believed him?!"

"Joey, if you were in my place and seen what he's went through, you would." She sighed again, raking her hands through her hair. "Guys, please. I love him."

Tristan inhaled deeply. It would not be fair for them to stop her. There was no option left but to take the middle route. "Okay, Ti. But remember, if he hurts you, we'll break his bones."

"Same here," Joey huffed gruffly.

"Thanks guys!" Tea threw her arms around their necks, pulling them in as tightly as she could. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

Joey tugged at her arm as he wheezed, "Can't breathe, Tea. Let go of me please, Mommy?"

XO XO XO XO

"Hey Kaiba."

Seto nodded in appraisal. "Yugi. Not there with your dork friends?"

Yugi shook his head as he leaned on the car beside him. "Nah, I knew about it beforehand. Tea sort of told me." At Seto's questioning look, he carried on, "She was wondering whether to tell you the truth."

"And?"

"And I told her to just admit it to you," Yugi replied cheerfully. Then his tone became serious. "I'm glad you allowed another person in your life. Don't hurt her."

Seto half-smirked. "Is that a warning?"

"Nah, just a reminder from a friend and an old enemy." Yugi grinned back.

Seto snorted back a laugh. Yugi's friend and old enemy? He could live with that. Just then, his cellphone rang and he answered it. He said nothing as he listened to what was conveyed on the other end, but it must not be something good: Seto's face grew stormy by the second. Once the call was done, he got back into his car in a flurry.

"Get off my car, Yugi," Seto snarled. Yugi did likewise before Seto had the chance to shove him off in order to hightail it out of Tea's neighbourhood.

"Seto!" Yugi heard Tea call out from behind him. He turned around to see his friends running to the spot.

"What happened, Yugi?" Tea asked him hurriedly. Her cerulean eyes were wide with worry.

"I – I don't know," Yugi himself had no idea what had just caused his arch-nemesis to take off like that. "I'm sorry, Tea. I don't know."

"No, it's okay," Tea shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. It was so obvious it was fake. "Come on, let's just… let's just get to school, alright guys?"

'_I can't promise you anything.' How so right of you, Seto._


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: hey guys! thanks so much for the constant reviews and comments! i'm really glad you guys like this fic!**

**anw, i know most of you are wondering what the phone call Seto received was all about. i hinted that it wasn't something very nice. well, in fact, i think it's something really... well, horrible. but i shall let you guys be the judge.**

**and if you do hate the newcomer (not so new, actually) in this chapter, you're welcomed to because as the author, i do too! but word of warning, language may be harsh and rather suggestive here. sheesh. i'm hating this newcomer more and more.**

**anw, enjoy this chap yea! keep the reviews coming!**

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Seto rammed the accelerator, completely uninterested in how many red lights he had hit. What the hell. At the very least it would be a fine, and at most it would be a driving ban. Either way, he could settle it without so much of a blink. The problem at hand, however… Seto gritted his teeth. It better be as easy to settle as his traffic offences problems.

He could scarcely believe what his secretary had told him over the phone. No one had expected it. He was the one involved in the news, and even he did not know about it. So how was it possible that right now every single person in Domino City knew about the news but not him? He barely let the engine die out before he bolted out of the Lexus and tossed the keys to the valet. There was already a swarm of reporters congregating at the lobby. Seto resisted the urge to yell at them to get the hell out of his sight and instead focused on proceeding for the elevators. Alas, these reporters did not quite understand the meaning of 'No Comments'.

"Mr Kaiba, is it true?"

"Is this just a rumour or has it in fact been decided a long time ago?"

"Are you doing this for the benefits it has in store for your company?"

Seto managed to reach the elevators, but not before shoving a few incessantly nosey reporters out of the way. Once he got into the lift, he gave them a death stare before punching the button that would bring the lift up all the way to the 35th storey. Thankfully the reporters were bright enough – or was it scared off enough? – to not dare to step over the boundaries and attempt to ride the elevator with him. In spite of his rage, Seto wondered if what Mischa had suggested once upon a time was right: that he needed an official spokesperson to handle the rubbish the reporters hurl at him.

The elevator doors slid open and Seto stormed out. Employees of Lobo Industries who happened to cross his path immediately cleared to the side to pave way for him, staring at him with a mixture of wonder and fear. Obviously, some of the females kept their eyes glued on him like star-struck fans of a rock star. The moment he reached the end of the corridor, a bespectacled thrity-something year old woman leapt out of her seat and held a hand out as if to stop him from going in.

"I'm sorry, sir, but do you have an appointment?" She asked crisply.

Seto snorted. It was surprising that a skank did not choose another skank as her secretary. "I don't give a damn about appointments. I assume your boss is in."

"Yes she is, but I'm sorry sir. You can't go in without an appointment," the secretary replied firmly, adjusting her glasses. She held out a hand. "If you could give me your ID card, then perhaps I could consult her and try to slot you in for an – Hey! You can't go in!"

The towering young man had already thrown the doors to her employer's office open with a force equal to a maddening roundhouse kick. At the doorway, with his hands by the side, he glared hard at the said employer and growled, "Lobo."

The blonde's face lit up when she saw him, and she immediately rose from her seat. "Seto! Honey!" Then she pouted. "Why do you keep calling me by my family name? I keep telling you, call me Ca-ro-line!"

Her secretary came out from behind Seto and tried to inch past the KaibaCorp CEO. "Miss Lobo, I tried to stop him –"

Caroline Lobo gave her a dismissive wave. "He doesn't need appointments, Tina. Haven't you read the papers?" When she saw that her secretary was still rooted at her spot, her voice took on a sharper end, "Do I have to personally tell you to get lost?" Tina dutifully snuck out of the office. Meanwhile, Caroline had already diverted her focus back on Seto, whose chest she was languidly placing her well-manicured hand on. She smiled hugely at him. "But you have read it, haven't you? Hmm?"

Seto simply glowered at her. Caroline sighed and started to play with his tie. "Se-to. Come on, don't be like that. We already had a deal in black and white, remember?"

He gripped her hand tightly, preventing them from doing further damage to his tie. He replied coldly, "We were fourteen back then. And could we really go against what they deciced?"

Caroline frowned and pulled her hand away from his grip. "Our fathers might have decided, but _you_ gave consent. And,_ we_ signed the contract. Don't you remember?" At Seto's unresponsive look, she leaned in closer to him until her mouth was directly beside his ear. "Or maybe you need help remembering."

"What if I don't _want_ to remember?" He pushed her away harshly and met her eyes unforgivingly. "We have no business between us. Ever since I took over KaibaCorp, I already assumed the contract void. You have no rights to interfere in my life. Pull out the announcement from the papers."

The blonde regarded him coldly. "You can't order me around. I'm not some dumb blonde who has no idea how to handle her life."

"If you don't do it, I'll do it," Seto warned. "And when I announce that your announcement about our wedding is just a cock and bull story, you'll be the one going down in shame."

Caroline gave him a half-smile and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She sauntered over to her desk and picked up a thin black file deftly using just her thumb and forefinger. "I won't be so cocky if I were you, darling." She threw him a lascivious smile. "Although in _that_ department…"

"Get to the point!" Seto finally snapped. Inwardly he cursed himself for being stupid enough to agree to sign the contract with her once upon a time. "I don't have all day."

The blonde gave out a short laugh before regarding him seriously, "I'm not going to pull the announcement out of the papers. You, on the other hand, will follow what is written in the announcement. In one month's time, Seto Kaiba, when you officially turn twenty, you'll marry me."

"Dream on!" He spat venomously.

"I _have_ been dreaming, Seto, all these years," she replied calmly. She held out the file to him. "You don't have a choice, honey." She inclined her head to the file that was now in Seto's hands. "Check that."

Seto did, and swore. Caroline smiled sweetly as her condescending grey eyes met his blue ones that were burning with rage. He was cornered, and she had ensured that. After all, this was just the first step.

"What you read is true, Seto," She slinked her way back to him. "I already own 45 percent of your company. I just need to say yes to an offered 10 percent. You don't want to lose your company, do you?" Seto said nothing as he seethed, and Caroline took the chance to loop her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. She repeated in a whisper, "Do you?"

"What. Do. You. Want?" Seto managed to grit out these words.

"Our marriage," She replied simply. "And you." With that, she surreptitiously pushed herself onto him, making sure that he lost his balance and crashed to the ground. At the same time, she flicked her forefinger at the door. The hired bespectacled camerawoman cum secretary on standby right outside her office promptly took the shot of the compromising duo. _Let there be action,_ she wickedly grinned.

XO XO XO XO

Yugi glanced around the class before turning back to Joey and Tristan. "Okay guys, remember. We'll do anything but let Tea see the papers, alright?"

The said newspaper tabloid was face-down on their desk, and Joey unwittingly rolled it up. He whispered back, "But what happens if she finds out about it, and then she finds out that we found out about it but we didn't tell her?"

"Then we'll just have to make sure that she doesn't know that we know," Tristan finished simply for him. As he gripped hard the edge of the table, he muttered, "Now that stupid Kaiba's really gonna have his bones broken."

"I knew he was no good for her from the start," Joey scoffed at his friend's remark. "Make that from the moment I met him. Ain't that right, Yug?"

Yugi sighed. "Actually," He replied unsurely. "I was kinda disappointed. I thought that Kaiba'd be responsible enough to not treat Tea like this."

Joey unrolled the paper and slammed it onto the desk. He pointed incensedly at the front page. "How could Kaiba fall for such a skank? I mean, I know she's hot. But she's a skank!"

"What skank?"

The new voice startled them all, and Joey hurriedly stashed the newspaper under his seat. He looked up at Tea and gave his stupidest grin. "Whaddup Ti?"

Their female friend frowned and reached to pull the newspaper from Joey's seat. Joey shifted his bottom around so that there was no way she could ever get her hands on it. In frustration, Tea gazed at her friends quizzically, "What are you guys hiding? And I heard skank. Who were you guys talking about?"

All three guys exchanged confused looks. "We did? We said skank?" Yugi gave a hollow laugh. "No, Ti. We said uhh… skunk. They discovered a new species of skunk."

Tristan nodded his head profusely. "Yups. They discovered a new species. A … uhh… blonde skunk!" Under the desk, Joey kicked him. Tristan withstood the pain by gritting his teeth into a grin. "On some island near Africa! We were just wondering if uhh… the zoo would bring it in! You know, for exhibition and stuff."

Tea eyed them warily, before shaking her head on her way to her seat. The guys let a huge sigh of relief. That was so close. Joey whipped the newspaper from under his seat and crammed it into Yugi's backpack. For now the dastard truth was kept from their friend. They just hoped nobody else in the school was as interested in Seto as Tea was, meaning that no one else would happen to have read the tabloid. And their other hope was of course, for Tea to not rummage through Yugi's backpack in order to look for an extra pencil or tissue.

"So when do we get to kill Kaiba?" Joey managed to hiss before he departed for his seat.

"ASAP," Tristan replied, cracking his knuckles.

Yugi gulped.

XO XO XO XO

Thankfully, the news about the wedding did not reach Tea. Nobody else in class or at school were that interested to spread the news around, and Tea was lucky enough to be so worn out by the school day to even think about her boyfriend or catch the news on television. So Yugi and the rest thought that the secret was safe. Unfortunately, another piece of news broke out the very next day.

"I can't believe he… did this!" Tea sobbed into her hands. The four of them were at a park near their school, and the latest edition of the tabloid was spread on the table. Actually, she had known about this in the morning, but she had forced herself to pull through the entire day and appear unaffected by it. Although they did not say it, her friends admired the way she faced the news. Not many girls could feign calmness that long or that well.

Yugi held out a tissue paper for her, which Tea promptly took to blow her nose in. Like Joey and Tristan, he too had no idea what words could offer solace to her. So instead, he let her cry and sob out whatever was pent up in her heart.

"To think that I believed him when he said that he won't in any way choose that… that slut!" Tea spat. "They were already engaged to begin with!"

"Tea…" Yugi interjected weakly.

"I love him, guys! I love him! And he did this to me? In her office? I don't know whether to be mad at him, mad at myself or disgusted by this entire deal!" Tea continued to rant as if nobody had spoken at all. She cried for a second or two, then stopped. "I feel so cheated!"

From across her, Tristan held out her ringing cellphone. Tea grabbed it, looked at the number and rejected the call. Joey and Tristan flinched. That must be from Kaiba. For a moment there, they regretted not simply killing Kaiba yesterday. Perhaps then Tea's sadness would be more justified.

The cellphone rang again, and this time round Tea did answer it. She barely let the caller on the other end talk as she shouted into it, "I don't care what you say! It's over!"

With that, she switched off her hand, rested her head on the table and cried.

XO XO XO XO

Seto set the receiver down, half furious and half frustrated. How could he be stupid enough to end up being trapped by Caroline? And it was not just one trap; he was now caught in two. The wedding announcement was bad enough. But the news that made front page this morning? Or rather, the photo that made front page this morning along with its caption. Seto seethed in his seat. He did not and he would never ever get himself involve in an office… tryst (Seto flinched at the thought of using the word) with her. Unfortunately, almost the entire of Domino City believe otherwise. Including the person he expected to believe him more than the news.

Seto leaned back into his leather seat, spun it around and stared out of his office window. The setting sun seemed to just signal to him that as the night loomed, so too was the darkness of his future. Caroline had planned everything beautifully. Pin one of his hand down with the threat of her buying over his company. Pin another with that untrue scandalous news. What else after that?

The moment Misa popped into his office, Seto wished he had restrained that thought. From her troubled face, he knew that it was not something going into his favour. Immediately he stood up and regarded her seriously. "What is it, Misa?"

"Mr Kaiba, maybe you'd want to switch on to the news," Misa suggested tremblingly.

Without another word Seto reached out for the remote control and turned on his LCD flat-screen television. The news was on. To make it more specific, news about Caroline Lobo was on. She was giving a press conference. Reluctantly he turned the volume on.

The news reporter was summarizing the press conference, "Miss Caroline Lobo, CEO of Lobo Industries has just made a shocking announcement that she is with child. Rumours were confirmed by her spokesmen that the father is indeed Mr Seto Kaiba, CEO of technology magnate Kaiba Corporation, and this is the main reason why the wedding, initially due next October, will be held this October."

Seto hurled the remote control at the television screen in rage. Misa flinched. She knew as much as her employer what that meant: the third nail in the coffin for him.

"Mr Kaiba?" she braved herself to voice out.

"Leave me alone, Misa," Seto muttered. He waited for her to exit his office before sinking back into his seat. Was there really no way out for him but to marry Caroline?

He picked up his phone and punched in a number. His finger hovered on the last digit. Do I really want to do this? My company, my reputation is on the line. Am I willing to sacrifice what I have now to save those two things? He placed the phone back on the receiver as he pondered.

His cellphone rang. Seto hastily answered it, "Tea?"

"So you _are_ with that commoner," The familiar sultry voice responded. She tutted. "Seto, I always thought you had more taste than that."

"If you think I'm going to say yes to marrying you, you're wrong!" Seto snorted in disgust.

"I don't _think_. I _know _you'll say yes to me," Caroline replied sweetly. "Have you checked your brother's whereabouts?"

Seto blanched. "Caroline, you…"

"Big Brother!" Seto could hear his brother scream in the background.

"Mokuba!"

Caroline got back on the line and chuckled. "That's right, darling. My brother-in-law's with me now. But don't worry, I'll take care of him."

"If you so much look at my brother, Caroline, I swear I'll kill you!"

"You know honey, you sound so… desirable when you're mad," Seto could already picture Caroline smiling widely in satisfaction on the other end: she had successfully wound him up. She sighed and remarked cheerfully, "I'll give you until midnight to decide, alright Seto? You know where to find me."

The moment she clicked off, Seto resisted the urge to slam his cellphone onto his desk. Caroline was too much. Was she that adamant to get him to marry her?

_I have 12 hours to decide_, Seto reminded himself. He got up from his seat and adjusted his coat. _And I have 12 hours to convince myself that I have to do this thing._

XO XO XO XO

Tea trudged wearily to her front door. She was so exhausted; schoolwork had taken its toll on her, and to add to that, she was worn out after breaking down just now. Perhaps that was why she did not notice a presence at the bushes near her house. She had just turned the key to unlock the door, and while she was pushing it open, the figure lunged at her. Tea shrieked and tumbled to the ground, her arms automatically moving up to shield her face.

She waited for some slash or blow to be directed at her face, but instead she felt herself being kicked in the stomach, and then her back. Tea cried out in pain. A few more kicks on her body and one that succeeded in connecting to her face, and then they stopped. Half crying, Tea sat up, forcing the pain down. She was just about to look up when something flew in her direction. It landed directly in front of her. Trembling, Tea picked it up and this time round snapped her head up to catch a glimpse of the attacker. But all she saw was a motorbike speeding off.

Wincing, she unwrapped the item thrown at her. It was a note crumpled around a rock. She shuddered. If that rock had hit her head just now, she might not be sitting here right now. But what she saw in the note pained her more:

Stay away from him, you filthy commoner! This time round is just a warning. Next time it's the finish.

She heard the squeal of tires pulling up on her driveway, and Tea readied herself for more blows. But when she saw who leapt out of the Ferrari, she hurriedly scrambled to her feet to get back inside. However, her weakened state slowed her down, and she found two strong hands gripping her arm tightly.

"Who did this to you, Tea?!" He demanded, shaking her with every word. "Tell me! Who did this?!"

Tea pried herself away from him. "Go away, Seto."

Her boyfriend (or was it ex?) was not buying any of that. Instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders. From the way his eyes blazed a burning shade of sapphire, Tea could tell he was more furious than panicky. "Tell me, Tea! Tell! Me!"

"Your fiancée!" Tea shouted back at him. With all her might, she pushed him away and tossed the note over to him as well. "Read that!"

"Caroline…" he uttered the spiteful name through gritted teeth, one hand crushing the note. He turned to face Tea. He looked as if he wanted to reach out to touch her face, but hesitated. Instead, he simply said, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you."

He bent his head down slightly and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Without further explanation, Seto turned on his heels and hopped back into his convertible. As he sped away, he saw from the side mirror that Tea had reached out to touch her lips where he had just kissed her. He diverted his gaze back to the street, with one hand reaching for his cellphone.

"Caroline? I have my answer."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: hey guys! thanks so much for all the reviews! to be honest, i am seriously itching to set up a 'Shoot Caroline' board where everyone can just take a dart and throw at her face. muahaha. i've never hated my own OC before. tsktsk.**

**anw, chap 18 up! it's not exactly the happiest (or the best, i feel) of chapters, i have to admit. but there's a surprise at the end of the chapter! muahaha. if you guys can guess what (or rather, who) i meant, i'll put your names up in the next chapter!**

**hope you guys enjoy this chap! keep the reviews coming, and hopefully they'll be more than enough to calm my nerves while waiting for my O level results to be released in a few hours time! i love you all!**

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"I already agreed," Seto remarked coldly, throwing dagger looks at the blonde heiress seated in a similar Victorian armchair across him. Mokuba was seated in another chair beside him, terrified but trying hard not to focus in on their conversation. "So that means my brother and I can leave."

Caroline frowned. "What makes you think you can leave?" She leaned back smugly. "After all, everyone thinks we've been together, so you can just –"

Seto stood up and hissed at her in uncontrolled fury, "I'm not sleeping with you!"

His fiancée raised an eyebrow almost impassively as she shrugged, "That's easy. Do you want anything to happen to your brother?"

This time round, Seto lost any sense of patience he might have had with her. "STOP USING MOKUBA TO GET TO ME, CAROLINE!" He hollered.

All of this was getting too much; Caroline was abusing her advantages to the extreme. Seto knew about making use of the opponents' weaknesses to get them to bow to you. But even at his worst, he never resorted to such depravity. Even when he kidnapped Solomon Mutou just to gain the Blue Eyes White Dragon card, he did that just for the card. But not in such a sick way as this.

The blonde stood up rigidly and raised her head until her eyes were the same level as his. "You know I have more options than that, Seto."

The young man glared back at her as he replied frostily, "No thanks to all your lies, I already chose to fulfill my side of the contract, Caroline. I will marry you. And you know I'll never do what you ask of me until we're married." _Or forever, if you ask me,_ he snorted inwardly. He turned to Mokuba. "Let's go, Mokuba. I think the both of us have seen enough of her for the entire month."

"But you'll be seeing me everyday for the rest of your life, Seto!" Caroline retorted cheerfully as she watched the two brothers hurriedly walk out of the living room to get out of her mansion. She trilled out a delightful laugh. Finally, Caroline Lobo was getting everything she wanted.

XO XO XO XO

The two brothers rode home in silence. Even Seto was driving his Ferrari at a speed much slower than what he was accustomed to. Despite Seto keeping his eyes on the road, Mokuba knew it was less of the road conditions than it was of what his brother had just decided to do. Seto had never done things against his will since he took over KaibaCorp, but now…

"Are you sure about what you're doing, Seto?" Mokuba asked quietly.

His brother took a moment before replying softly, "She was gunning in on things and people that matter the most to me. KaibaCorp. My reputation. You." Seto swallowed hard before he finished his sentence, "Tea."

"You didn't tell her about this."

"How could I?" Seto's voice was getting softer now. Any other person would not have noticed, but Mokuba had spent his entire lifetime by his brother's side to realize how much this decision was hurting his brother. "And anyway, I won't. She can hate me. I'll get used to it." Seto blinked rapidly for half a second. "Besides, with what is circulated on the news, she should already be hating me."

Mokuba fell silent. He knew what his brother was doing: sacrificing his own future. Mokuba fought back the tears. _Just when I thought Seto could finally get a chance to live life like he wanted, he has to do it again._

"Isn't there any other way for you to get out this?" Mokuba pressed on exasperatedly. "I don't want her as my… sister-in-law."

"I don't want her in my life at all, Mokuba. Not as a wife, a friend or business associate. I regretted agreeing to the match that Gozaburo made for me back then. I could have said no. Guess I judged her too superficially back then." He glanced over at Mokuba briefly and forced a small smile. "In any instance, let that be your lesson from this stupid brother of yours when it comes to girls."

Mokuba stared at his brother in disbelief as Seto steered the Ferrari into their mansion's compound. He retorted semi-angrily and semi-disappointedly, "But we have to do something, Seto!"

"We are," his brother remarked bluntly, unlatching his seatbelt and getting out of his car. "We're getting ready to accept Caroline into our lives." Seto tossed the key to one of his security boys guarding the front door. "Park the car."

Usually Mokuba would have attempted to run after his brother and pressurize him to change his mind. But seeing just how worn out and scared his brother was by this entire deal, he held back. Instead he simply watched from the doorway as his brother trudged up the glass stairway to head to his room. There was no doubting the air of oppression hanging over Seto's head no matter where he went.

"Mokuba, you're finally home!" Nana rushed out of the kitchen to welcome her employers home. Her eyes followed Mokuba's gaze which was lingering on the stairs. "Is Mr Kaiba…?"

"Something bad happened, Nana," Mokuba ran over to hug his housekeeper, squeezing his eyes tightly. "Big Brother made the wrong decision."

Nana went pale as she regarded her younger employer, a horrified look wiping any trace of relief she might have felt just a second ago. "Don't tell me…"

Mokuba nodded reluctantly. "He agreed to marry Caroline."

"That witch of a woman!" There was no doubting just how enraged the housekeeper was by the news. Mokuba backed away. Somehow he could imagine her transforming out of her uniform into a samurai. "From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was a good-for-nothing! That's right, Mokuba! I've known long before you and brother came here. I knew how she's really like. Even when she was a kid, she was a devious little –"

Mokuba held up a hand and begged her to lower her voice. "Nana, please. Seto already knows that…"

"All the better he does!" She huffed in despair. "Anyway, is there anything you want me to get for you, Mokuba?"

The raven-haired boy shook his head as he proceeded up the stairs. He just wished he could do something to alleviate his brother's pain.

XO XO XO XO

Tea stared hard at her reflection in the mirror. It seemed that only a few days back the same pair of cerulean eyes stared back at her with hope and vigour. But now, they were simply plain and cold. The reddish veins on her eyes were the only proof that there was some emotion hidden behind within her.

When Seto had rushed over to her and yelled at her, in spite of her shock she had spent most of the time gazing deep into her eyes. That was one of the rare moments where she saw nothing else but fear in those icy blue eyes, and it had driven the fear into her as well. The kiss afterwards had taken her completely by surprise – ever since they were a couple, Seto had made it subtly known that he was not exactly fond of displaying affection even if there was no one about. To have him kiss her out of the blue like that… what exactly did it mean? A normal girl in a normal relationship with a normal guy would probably be thrilled by that. But to be Tea Gardner in a relationship with Seto Kaiba, the kiss worried her.

_Something must be going on,_ she came to a conclusion. _He said that nothing's gonna happen to me. Before that he demanded to know who assaulted me. Then he said her name… could it be…_

Tea flew out of the bathroom and into her room. She immediately grappled for her cellphone which was lying underneath a messy pile of books. Frantically, she scrolled down the contacts list until she came to his number and pressed the 'Call' button.

_Please please please. Pick up, Seto. Pick up._

XO XO XO XO

Seto had just removed his coat and tossed it onto his bed when his cellphone rang. Contritely, he picked it up to see who the caller was. The screen blinked Tea's name. Seto stood rooted at the foot of his bed, unsure whether to pick up the call or just let it ring. In the end, the phone stopped ringing. However, Seto continued to stare at the phone.

There was an enormous tide of emotions welling up inside him, and Seto had no idea how to express them. Should he be furious, cry or just lock his depressed self up in his room? Setting his phone gently down on the bed, he shuffled into the shower room.

Usually he would wait until the water heated up. He had no patience for that now, so he just stepped into the shower and decided to deal with the water at whatever temperature it was. Even if the water coursing over him was concentrated acid and not ice cold water, he would have barely noticed. Then again, maybe acid seemed the better option of the two.

He hated himself right now. Hated himself for walking straight into Caroline's trap. Hated himself for putting the two people he loved most in danger. Hated himself for being so complacent that he barely checked the going-ons in his company. Caroline could never surpass 49% for now, but if she could trick him into agreeing to marry her, she definitely already had an idea to get him to hand over 6% to her.

Seto thumped hard at the wall in frustration. He wanted to scream, but he had no wish to alert the entire household or his security boys. He wanted to cry, and with the shower pouring over him, the tears and the water would mingle and even he would not know the difference. But could he?

After ten minutes of doing nothing but standing in the shower, Seto got out of it and thought that maybe he could put his time to better use by going to sleep. But as he lay in bed, one hand absently brushing the empty side, he could not help thinking back to his decision.

_In one month's time, it'll be Caroline lying here,_ he could feel a lead ball drop in his gut. _Will I be able to…_

He sat up in his bed, blindly running his hand through his hair. _I don't want Caroline to be the one there. I know who I want there, and it's not Caroline. But everything is too late now. I've said yes. And if I revoked on my promise, everything will be lost._

He reached out to pull out his bed stand drawer and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He reread it for what must be the umpteenth time:

_Duelist. President. Businessman. Employer. Inventor. Student. Benefactor. Fighter. Inspiration._

_Son._

_Brother._

_Father._

_Guardian._

_Protector._

_Friend._

_Never ever say that you're nobody, because from all of this, I see that it's otherwise. You're not just somebody, Kaiba; you're more than that. Remember that._

He traced his finger over two words: Guardian and Protector. He had to do this. _I'm not doing this for myself, Tea. I'm doing it for you. You can hate me, but I'll never be sorry for protecting you._

XO XO XO XO

Tea hurried out of the taxi and ran straight for the front gate of Kaiba Mansion. Two bulky security men inadvertently stepped in to block her path. Hurriedly she rummaged her backpack and pulled out an envelope. She waved it at the security.

"You can't go in unless you produce identification," one of them said strictly.

Tea could not care less. Instead, she thrust the envelope into his hands. "Please, get this to Mr Kaiba," she pleaded with them. "Get this to him, please. It's important."

"What's your name?"

"He'll know," she assured them, turning to head back into her taxi. "He'll know, trust me. Give it to him. Please."

With one last long glance at the mansion compound, Tea ducked back into the taxi and directed the driver to send her home. She shut her eyes tightly. I hope you read that, Seto. I won't hate you no matter what.

XO XO XO XO

A knock came on the door. Seto frowned, swung out of bed and opened it. One of his security boys from the front gate was standing there, holding out an envelope for him.

"What's that?" Seto inquired crossly.

"A girl came over and told me to give it to you," The security guy explained. "She was a tall brown-haired girl. Around your age."

Seto immediately knew who it was. He grabbed the envelope from him and dismissed the guy, closing the door behind him. Without waiting, he ripped the envelope open and out plonked a CD and a note. Seto quickly bent down to pick them up. He unfolded the note while he inserted the CD into his stereo set.

The note was short, but it carried enough meaning:

_Seto, I know why you're doing what you're doing. I know I'm one of the reasons. Maybe it's best if we go our own separate ways, so neither of us would have to see the other get hurt. But if and when you wish that I'm there by your side, just listen to that CD._

_I love you then, now and always, Seto Kaiba._

As if on cue, the CD started to play.

_In your eyes I see you've been broken  
And your shadow it hides from the sun  
As a picture with words left unspoken  
Are you wondering who you are_

_Do you ever think there's someone out  
There looking over you  
Watching everything you do  
Looking after you_

_Would you believe that I could be your guardian angel  
Do you believe that this is true  
If you say yes I'll fall and I will be able  
To look at anyone so true I love you_

_Your thoughts get lost in the ocean  
And your prides as strong as the sea  
Your heart is blocked by a raincloud  
Only thunder and rain can be seen  
_

_Would you believe that I could be your guardian angel  
Do you believe that this is true  
If you say yes I'll fall and i will be able  
To look at anyone so true I love you_

Once the song ended, Seto stared at the stereo blankly. Unconsciously, a stray tear trickled down his cheek. _I'm sorry, Ti._

XO XO XO XO

One week later, at the Domino City International Airport, the passengers of SQ 435, the flight from Singapore, were filing out of the immigration checkpoint. A 1.6-metre woman with electric blue streaks in her hair was one of the first few passengers who had cleared her immigration. She lugged her two luggage bags along her way to the exit. Well, technically, she had left Domino City with only one bag. Naturally, she needed another bag on her return trip.

Along the way, she had to consistently decline offers for tours and convinced these agents that she was not a tourist. After three of these agents, she was seriously considering pasting her ID card on her forehead. She stopped by the newsstand to pick up a couple of newspapers. After all, she had been away for nearly a month. There must be a bunch of news that she missed. Of course, she could have easily checked the news on the Internet, but she was just too lazy to hit the search engine.

What she saw on the front page made her stop in her tracks. She stared hard at the photo, and kept rereading the headlines. Was this for real? The photo showed a tall male with dark brown hair walking out of a Cartier specialty store, hand in hand with a fashionably-dressed blonde. Both of them were wearing sunglasses, possibly with the hopes of obscuring their faces, but there was no doubt who they were even without the help of the headlines:

_Kaiba and Lobo seen buying ring  
Cartier insider confirms that a pair of US$450 000 wedding bands purchased_

Furiously, she flipped the pages until she reached the article about the couple. It was summarizing about the preparations and also the background that led to the wedding of the two most powerful young CEOs in Japan. Apparently they were childhood sweethearts, already engaged at the age of 14. Supposedly the wedding was to take place next year, but it was brought forward to the next three weeks. The reason? Caroline Lobo was pregnant with Seto Kaiba's child.

She crushed up the newspaper and tossed it into the nearby rubbish bin. _This is so great_, she fumed. _I come back, and I meet with rubbish news! This is so bogus! What is he thinking? Just what is he thinking?_

Grabbing her luggage with more energy than she could ever guess she possessed, she stormed towards the exit of the airport and plonked herself into the first taxi she could find. She barely gave thought how she managed to squeeze her luggage in the taxi without using the bonnet. Instead, she heatedly ordered the taxi driver, "Kaiba Mansion! Now!"

The taxi driver stared at her for a while. She sighed exasperatedly. "I'm not a tourist! I'm not a long-lost girlfriend! And the blue in my hair is dyed! Now step on it!"

* * *

**song used is Guardian Angel by Lee Ryan**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: hey guys! the good mood cos of my O level results resulted in chapter 19! but somehow the inspiration for this chap came from a sad song by RAIN that i was listening to (and surprisingly crying to)**

**anw, as promised, those who guessed correctly, your names are up (in no order)!**

**AmQaudrus**

**Lace Kyoko**

**MythCreatorWriter**

**Starwefter**

**killthesnakesx**

**Living Arrow**

**Rangerette**

**you are all entitled to kill Caroline on my behalf. muahaha.**

**okay, jokes aside, here's chapter 19 of this fic! keep the reviews pouring!**

* * *

Seto awoke with a start to see his fireplace lit up. Not only that, someone was perched beside it, tossing various things into the fire. A certain blonde someone. The moment Seto caught sight of something round and shiny about to be thrown in, he bolted out of bed and snatched it out of her hand.

He glared angrily at her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

She casually got up and leaned in to hug him, but Seto furiously brushed her away. Instead, he saw what were the torn pieces of paper in her hand. He grabbed it and shook it hard. He hissed, "These are my personal stuffs. What's the meaning of all this, Caroline?"

Caroline let her fingers play across his chest as she replied confidently, "Now that we're gonna be married soon, I don't think you need anymore reminders of that commoner. And what's with her name? I mean, seriously, _Tea_."

Seto pushed her away angrily and held out his hand. "What her name is shouldn't matter to you. Return them to me now, Caroline." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Now."

Pouting, Caroline shoved them into Seto's outstretched hand. However, with the other hand she looped it around his neck and roughly brought his face down to hers. Not giving Seto a chance to react, she crashed her lips on his. The more he struggled, the more she kept a tighter grip and kept going.

Finally Seto managed to push her away and wiped his mouth, an obvious sign that he found her too affectionate action revolting. Turning his back towards her, he headed for the shower room but not before telling her coldly, "Do that again and I'll make sure you regret it."

XO XO XO XO

She flashed her ID card, and that quickly granted her taxi entry into the spacious mansion compound. The moment the taxi pulled up at the porch, she passed the driver a fifty-dollar bill, told him to wait, and scrambled out of the taxi, pushing her luggage out along the way. Hefting one luggage in each hand, she stormed through the door and purposefully slammed her luggage down on the floor.

Hands akimbo, she swiveled her gaze around the house and yelled, "That's it Mr Boss! Get your butt down here! Now!"

'Miss Mischa!" Mischa knew who it was without turning around. Instead, she just held a hand out.

"Mr Boss!!! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE! BEFORE I COME UP AND DRAG YOU OU-"

Her yelling was cut short when she saw two figures appear at the top of the stairway, peering down at her. Mischa curled her hands into a tight ball when she saw who they were. Seto was one of them, that was for sure; after all, this was his home. But what was that devious fiancée of his doing by his side?

"Mischa!" Seto sounded surprised as he finally recognized who the madwoman with electric blue hair streaks and a gothic outfit to match yelling at his threshold was. He looked as if he wanted to run down to meet her, but Caroline's secretly tightened grip on his arm stopped him. "What… I thought you were supposed to be on holiday. And your dressing…"

His image consultant snorted. "Turns out I chose the right look today. But you, my dear boss Mr Kaiba, has just besmirched the reputation of this image consultant of yours by ending up with _her_! Have you guys seen how you look together?"

Caroline immediately took offence at the crude way Mischa was pointing at her. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she said scathingly back, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"That means that a hot guy like _him_ –" Mischa pointed jerkily to Seto, who looked down at his white shirt which was unbuttoned at the top. "Doesn't deserve to be in the _same_ photo as a hag like _you_! No, wait. Make that, _you _don't deserve to be _anywhere _in his life or breathing the same air that he is because. You. Simply. _Don't_. Deserve. It!"

"Oh really? Then _who_ deserves it?" Caroline sneered. "That stupid commoner called Tea Gardner?"

Mischa narrowed her eyes at the stupid blonde. Purposefully, she lifted one of her luggage up. "You know, when I went for my pilgrimage, I promised myself that I'll be a better person when I come back. And right now, my head is telling me that the right thing to do is to HURL THIS LUGGAGE BAG AT YOU!"

Seto pried his arm away from Caroline's grip and headed down the stairs, throwing cautionary looks at both women. He warned, "That's enough! I don't need a fight on my property." He grabbed Mischa by the arm and steered her towards the front door. Despite letting herself be dragged out, Mischa made sure to give Caroline the meanest death stare she could muster. If looks could kill, that would be the perfect time for that quote to actually come true.

Once the two of them were safely at the porch and ultimately away from Caroline, Seto sighed, "Mis, let me explain everything to you –"

"That after everything I've done to unite you with the woman you love, you decide to impregnate someone else and that someone else had to be her?" Mischa was nearing hysterics.

Her employer regarded her coldly. His reply was just as frosty, "I did _not_ impregnate her, Mischa. I never wanted to do this, but I was left with no choice."

Mischa laughed bitterly. "No choice? You could have said no."

"I can't," Seto replied flatly. He looked no more comfortable or happy discussing the topic as she was listening to it. "I signed an engagement contract with her when we were fourteen. I didn't know she would demand that I fulfill that contract by going all out. Do you know what she did, Mischa? She framed me about the child and the wedding, threatened to take over my company, kidnapped Mokuba and assaulted Tea. If you were me, Mis, would you still remain stubborn when the people you love are hurt?"

Unfortunately for him, his image consultant was not buying any of it. In fact, she looked more furious than before. Throwing a dirty look at him, she remarked snidely, "So it's okay to go against your principles in this sort of situation without thinking of a way out. Your brother and Tea had done everything possible to make your life better, and you just threw them away like this." She bent down to pick her luggage up. Seto reached out for her shoulder in a bid to stop her, but she quickly shoved him off. "Don't touch me or talk to me, Mr Boss. I was always proud of your no-nonsense attitude when it came to principles, and I respect you a lot for that. Thank you for disappointing your employee."

With that, she dragged her luggage and got back into the taxi which was still waiting for her. She instructed the taxi to drive off, and as it did, Mischa did not even bother to look bad. All of this was disgusting her.

XO XO XO XO

Tea walked slowly along the corridor towards the front door. Her friends were on either side of her, but she was only scarcely aware of that fact. Ever since she passed that CD to Seto, signaling the end of their relationship, she was barely the same person. Their break-up was forced; neither of them wanted it. Both of them agreed to it just to prevent the other from being hurt more. Now that it was done, how true was that notion?

She cried almost every night, and each morning she told herself that she would stop the tears. She would be able to get a grip on herself from the moment she stepped out of the house until the school day ended. Everytime she approached her doorstep, her mind kept thinking to that night when Seto kissed her goodbye. Sometimes she could still sense the feel of his lips lingering on hers.

The first few days after the incident, her friends attempted to get her to cheer up. They cracked jokes or did silly things, and even if Tea did crack a smile, it was not in its entirety. In the end, they finally decided that they were trying too hard and decided that the best was to simply just be there for her. Joey went one step further by having a packet of tissue paper on standby.

The squeal of tires stunned her out of her stupor, and Tea could not believe her eyes when a woman in an all-black outfit leapt out of a Mercedes, the electric blue streaks in her hair made more obvious with her movement. Apparently her friends too had the same reaction as her: glued to where they were standing, just blinking at the newcomer in disbelief.

"Tea!" The familiar voice rang out.

"Mis…cha?" Tea acknowledged her in disbelief. Her eyes traveled along the entire length of her friend's body. What was her friend's fashion statement now?

The Indonesian rolled her eyes. "Yes it's me in gothika mode post holiday," She regarded Tea seriously, then spoke in a softer voice, "He told me what happened after I gave him hell. Why did you let him go?"

Tea immediately averted her gaze to the ground as she replied chokingly, "Because I don't want him to lose it all just for me."

"Has it ever struck you that you're being stupid?" Mischa's words sounded harsh, but her tone was anything but.

"Maybe loving him made me stupid," Tea mumbled as she hugged Mischa back. "But I didn't want him to feel bad or make him worry anymore."

Mischa sighed, wiping her eyes. "The both of you are being stupid." She turned to the three guys ogling at them and smiled. "Hello, you must be Tea's friends. Joey, Tristan and of course, Yugi! I know you way before I knew Tea, no thanks to my boss."

"H-Hi," the guys stammered. "You're Mischa?"

"Yeah," she replied with a laugh. She motioned to her car. "Get in, guys. The moment I saw all of you, I knew what I wanted to do." She eyed Joey and Tristan carefully. "It's a crazy thing. You up for it?"

Joey grinned. "Involves getting back at Kaiba?"

Mischa appeared thoughtful. "Sort of."

"We're in!" Joey exclaimed, grabbing Yugi and Tristan into the back seat of the Mercedes sedan. Tea and Mischa exchanged looks, shook their heads and followed suit.

XO XO XO XO

"Mr Kaiba? I'm sorry. Mr Kaiba?" The sound went a pitch higher at the repetition of the name.

Seto glanced up and met the ten pair of confused and worried eyes. He shook his head quickly and signaled for the marketing team to carry on with their presentation. He kept his eyes on the screen, but he was barely listening to a word being said. Rather, his mind kept drifting back to several events.

I wish I had dared to look at her face when the fireworks went up in the sky. Then maybe I could have imprinted her reaction in my mind. I knew she was laughing and crying at the same time. But how did she look like?

His marketing team was still explaining their latest strategy to him, and he nodded at appropriate intervals_. If I had known things would end up like this, would I have acted differently with her? Showed her more that I really care for her?_

That was when he realized how much about her he missed. The scent of lavender on her, and how she could always get on his nerves but be so endearing at the same time. She really cared for Mokuba as if she was his sister. She was not pushy in the relationship. Most importantly, she was brave enough to end it.

Or was it him? He was the one who dragged them into this inescapable quicksand. He was the one who left her no choice but to put whatever they had to an end.

Seto put his hand up, calling for a pause in the meeting. Without looking at his marketing team, he remarked in a dead voice, "I'm sorry. Could we postpone this to another day?"

The presenter was taken by surprise, but proceeded to pack his things. "Of course, Mr Kaiba."

His employer nodded. "Please leave this meeting room now. All of you. Including you, Misa."

If his employees found that his actions were weird that day, they made no mention of it. Instead, they dutifully herded their way out of the meeting room, leaving Seto sitting at the head of the table with his thoughts. The moment the door closed behind them, Seto dropped his face onto his arms which were resting on the table. If it ended up that he would be crying, then so be it. He was so tired of it all, he was even too worn out to even think.

_Maybe I'm just destined to keep on ruining my own life,_ he thought contritely. He saw a small radio tucked away in a corner of the room. Probably an employee or the cleaner accidentally left it there.

For some strange reason, Seto was compelled to switch it on. And as he did, the song that greeted him could not have been more accurate in putting what he felt in words.

XO XO XO XO

_Facing the split for anyone_

_Cannot be all fine and dignified_

_I was like that_

_Having my heart ripped off_

_Clenching my teeth, I answered you_

_Let's split – I'll do what you tell me to_

_I said coolly the words of split_

_Go and find someone who's better than me_

_On the surface I told you, just like that_

_I'm crying while waiting for you_

_All the days we were together_

_At the places soaked with the memories_

_You will open the door surely_

_Come and find me someday_

_Because you're my everything in my life_

_Do you remember then_

_September 12 that time?_

_You told me something that can't be forgotten_

_If we trust each other, let's start together, you said_

_I could never forget that time_

_I'm crying while waiting for you_

_And your shining bright smile_

_Though I have not expressed anything to you yet_

_Truly for me, in my heart, there was only you_

_Only one in the world_

_My only heart_

_But I'm not asking you to come back_

_Truly, you have to be happy_

_The tears that you dropped because of me_

_Make my heart ache more and more_

_I'm crying while asking for forgiveness_

_For making it tough for you_

_Can you feel it?_

_Only now, like an idiot, telling you my heart_

_While you're listening, I'm telling you again_

_I am still your man_

_I loved you and your everything_

XO XO XO XO

Tea let the song fade off. The moment the DJ came back on, she turned the radio off and sank back into her bed. _By telling him that I'm pulling out of his life, am I doing him a favour or just torturing him more? If that was what Seto felt, I … I could never forgive myself._

She was too tired to even wipe the tears off her face. _I'm so sorry, Seto. I did all that because I love you. Am I wrong to do that? But I missed you so much.._

Tea shut her eyes quickly and willed the tears to stop flowing. Mischa had told her vaguely that she had a plan. The Indonesian had just assured her – rather grudgingly, because she never quite forgave Tea for what she had done – that everything was under control. She had sent Tea home, while the guys remained with her.

Usually she would be interested in whatever plan Mischa came up with. Currently, enthusiasm was the last thing on her mind. When Mischa sent her home, she was overcome with relief. Tea reached out for the carved oblong box with butterflies painted at the edges. She smiled sadly. He could say whatever he wanted, but she knew that it was him and not Mokuba who chose it. She traced the butterflies absently_. I always thought that if you love someone, you should set them free like these butterflies. But should I have kept them in the box instead?_

* * *

**the song used is 12 September by RAIN.**

**and the box Tea had in the end was a reference from a thank you gift from Seto in this fic's prequel, Dik. Seto said that Mokuba chose the box, and the only gift he gave her was a ticket to KaibaLand.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: hey guys! thanks soo much for the reviews! and i'm glad you guys are honoured! haha! anw, for those wondering what the O levels are all about, it's a make-or-break national exam that all graduating high schoolers in Singapore had to sit for. they fly the papers in from cambridge, we do them and then they're flown back there for marking. i have no idea why.**

**anyway, managed to complete Chapter 20! pheww. i never expected this fic to reach this much, but whatever. haha! this chapter is less sad, but i still think it's sort of heavy, especially the revelation about Caroline. but no worries, i still hate her. she's just plain scary. but one request? don't hate Seto after this, alright guys? i still believe he's not entirely at fault here. it's just that the chick's crazy.**

**okay, i shall stop babbling now. hope you guys like this chapter, cos i'm kinda worried for this one. haha. keep the reviews coming!**

* * *

Joey peered over his shoulder before turning to Tristan who was engrossed in the video game he was playing. "Eh, Tris? Wonder what's taking Mischa long."

Tristan shrugged as he his fingers deftly hit the buttons on the controller. "Beats me. She said she was gonna dye her hair or something. But hey, with all these video games collection, I don't mind even if she takes forever."

The three of them had been lounging out at Mischa's pad for the past few days. Once they discovered that Mischa's taste was more guy than girl, and she had an impressive collection of wrestling DVDs, video games and junk food that would put a grocery store to shame, they immediately took to her. In fact, Mischa seemed to reciprocate their feelings and let them stay over at her place. She had a massive enough guest room to house the three of them. Plus, she sort of viewed them as her younger siblings already.

Initially the plan was for them to get together and brainstorm for ideas on how to stop the wedding. They had watched the entire season of 'The Real Wedding Crashers' over and over again. But each time, Mischa ended up pacing up and down drawing blanks. Then they would turn to distress themselves by ploughing through the wrestling DVDs or hook up to her PS3.

They heard the blare of Hannah Montana's Best Of Both Worlds (it took two hours for Mischa to convince the guys that even at the age of twenty-two, she still watched the show because she liked the theme song). Mischa must be heading out of her room now. All three of them turned around, and yelped as they got the shock of their lives. Standing behind them was Mischa with more than just electric blue streaks in her hair. As if to further drive her point, she was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words: I'm a punk rocker with 5 colours in my hair.

"Know what, kiddos?" she exclaimed excitedly, plonking herself in between them. "I just came up with an idea! With it, I can teach boss a lesson and humiliate that skank fiancée of his!"

"I still can't believe how easily Kaiba agreed to her," Yugi voiced out distastefully. "I never thought he'd be that sort of person. But anyway, Mis, what do you have in mind?"

"Technically, I can't initiate the plan now," Mischa frowned, playing idly with a red strand of her hair. "Cos before that, I'll need to be nice again to Mr Boss. And that … _wedok ulo_. If I can convince her that I truly want to help plan their wedding, then everything will be so beautifully easy."

Joey stared at her in disbelief. "So technically we _are_ the wedding crashers? We're gonna like wait three more weeks until we can take action?"

Mischa looked at each of their faces and sighed deeply, muttering to herself, "_Kok kalian begok banget sih._" She then raised her voice slightly to address them. "Like duh. What do you expect? I gather a team of sharpshooters and bangbang that _welut _at her doorstep? Look, I hate her with all my guts, but I'm not going to risk life in prison. Let her rot there."

Tristan set his game controller down and squinted at her. "Why do I get the feeling that you know more about her than you're talking about?"

"Because I bet she already planned all of this beforehand," Mischa announced confidently. She leapt out of the sofa and half-jogged over to her laptop. "No worries, guys. I already set on course to dig out as much information about her as possible. The Lobos aren't exactly clean people." She worked fast on her keyboard and then gave a cry of triumph. "I knew it! Ha! Take that you uhh… give me a word to describe her." Joey offered a vulgarity, but she quickly waved it off. "Not strong enough to describe her. But whatever, thing is, she's gonna be screwed!"

Tristan cleared his throat loudly. "Y'know, I think we'd better understand what you're talking about if you fill us in properly."

"Oh, don't worry!" Mischa replied cheerfully, pulling a thumbdrive from the USB port on her laptop and tossing it into her purse. She proceeded to unlock her door. "You all stay here, be good boys and play with the PS3 or watch wrestling. I'll be right back! Then I'll tell you guys properly!"

XO XO XO XO

Mischa let her eyes wander around the café behind her Gucci sunglasses. She caught sight of a twenty-something man casually dressed in a green T-shirt and jeans seated just beside the door. Smiling, she hurried up to him.

"Yo dude," she greeted him amiably, taking a seat across him.

"Yo dudette," he greeted back, flashing her a grin that revealed his pearly-whites. "Nice hair."

Mischa smiled back. "Someone went for teeth whitening session, huh?" Chuckling to herself, she unzipped her purse and took out the thumbdrive. She tossed it over to the man, and he easily caught it. "More stuff for you to munch on."

The man turned the thumbdrive over in his hand. "Never knew Kotex had thumbdrives. Anyway, what's all this about?"

His Indonesian contact glared at him before breaking into a laugh. "I never knew either, until I won their lucky draw. Anyway, like I said, more munchable stuff. Contains as much info as I could gather about a certain _welut_."

He laughed at her usage of the word. "Jeez, Mis, I always thought you no longer knew how to speak Javanese!"

She stuck her tongue out. "Too bad, Marvell. My Javanese vocabulary was and shall always remain superior to yours!"

Marvell threw a friendly punch at her as he pocketed the thumbdrive with his other hand. "Don't worry. I shall never be able to eclipse this friend of mine since I already failed for the past eighteen years. Anyway, I'll look this up for you. Maybe get a team in."

"I leave it up to you, Vell. But make sure this is FOC all the way, alright?"

"Let's put it this way," he disagreed. "You owe me dinner, alright? You know that a full tummy is all I need as the best payment ever."

Mischa agreed and laughingly got up to leave. Marvell had been her best friend for almost her entire lifetime. They had spent their summers together, flying in to Bandung from Japan. Then they had attended the same schools and even joined the same co-curricular activity. They had chosen different career paths, but none of their careers pleased their families. Mischa was an image consultant, Marvell joined the police. After a while, he left the squad and set up his own investigation agency. Mischa counted her lucky stars for having such a resourceful friend. And now, she was off to meet yet another friend.

XO XO XO XO

She took the elevator up all the way to the 27th floor. When she got out, she was greeted with the sight of a sullen and pissed Misa punching the keys away on her computer furiously. Her headset was tossed away at a far corner of her desk, and if the location of the tall stack of files was of any indication, she had no wish to catch sight of anything going in or out of her employers office.

"Hey Mis!" she greeted, nearing the secretary's desk.

"Mis!" Misa leapt to her feet and quickly leant in for a hug. "Oh my God, when did you come back? This office has been a hellhole to everyone for the past few weeks."

Mischa did not need to ask why; she already knew the answer. She inclined her head towards the French door. "Leech's in there?"

Misa huffed angrily as her eyes went into slits at the mention of the parasite. "Yes. Sucking everything she could out of Mr Boss. They were arguing just now, and I heard him threaten to get the security kick her out of his property."

"He should have just done that," Mischa muttered, brushing back a stray lock of hair. "Anyway, I'm heading in. Don't need to inform the man." She took her fingers and pulled the corners of her lips up. "Do I look pleased enough?"

The secretary laughed and nodded. Keeping the fake smile frozen on her face, Mischa marched into the office of the CEO of KaibaCorp. "Hey Mr Boss!"

Seto looked up from his work, and the relief on his face was unmistakable when he saw her. However, he kept his voice even, "Mischa. You still have a week of holidays left, I thought."

"Two, actually," She corrected him. "But I miss the office too much already. Besides, I assume there's a lot of things that needed settling. I bet my office is already infested with dead pests." Her eyes darted over to Caroline slightly at the last word. Then, as if pretending to just realize the witch's presence, she said in false joy, "Caroline! You're here too? I'm sorry, you're like tucked away at a far corner of this big room, I didn't notice."

The blonde smiled sweetly at her as she got up and made her way to Seto's side. "Can we help you with something, Mischa?"

The image consultant simply lowered herself into a seat across them, brushing her hair out of her face. "Well, actually, I'm here to offer my help to plan your wedding. I know shotgun weddings are always… well, rubbish in preparations and stuff. But I'm gonna make sure that your wedding will be the Wedding Of The Year and Years To Come! And to help you guys with that, I have just the right person. Alessandra Wang, you know her, Carol?"

Caroline's eyes widened at the mention of the name. "You mean, _the_ Ale Wang? As in, the one who designs wedding dresses for the who's who in Hollywood?" Mischa nodded smugly. Or rather, too smugly for Caroline. The latter narrowed her eyes at the Indonesian who now had 5 different colours in her hair. "And I should believe you, why?"

Mischa rolled her eyes. She reached into her purse, pulled out her handphone and dialed a number. After a while, she spoke into it, "Hello? Ale! Heyy! Yeah, I have someone for you to uhh… meet? Can you like go on the video conference thingey on your cell now?" Mischa pulled the phone away from her ear, pushed a button and loaded hers. She then pointed the screen to Caroline. "Ale, meet Carol. Carol, meet –"

"Ale!" Caroline squealed, rushing forward to snatch the phone out of Mischa's hand. The moment her eyes connected with Ale's, she forgot all about who was in the office room. Rather, she brought the phone out of the office, excitedly talking to Ale. "Ohmygawd, I absolutely love your new collection! I think it's just so amazing how you mix traditional Chinese designs with the latest Western ones!"

Mischa held the door out and Caroline blindly walked out, happily chatting away. As Caroline exited, Mischa made a motion as if to kick her out. Sighing, she ran her hand through her hair and turned to face her boss with a 'how could you be so hopeless?' look on her face.

"Thanks for getting her out," Seto said sincerely. His eyes were a mixture of relief and fatigue. "Why are you suddenly so enthusiastic about my wedding?"

Mischa suddenly felt sorry for the idiot. It must have taken a lot of energy to try to get Caroline off his back. "She's exerting her toll on you, huh? Anyway," She flopped back on her seat. "Since when is it _your_ wedding? I thought it was more of _her_ wedding since _she_ was the one who wanted it."

"Mis, please," Seto pinched the bridge of his nose. He even sounded tired. "I'm not in the mood to listen to any jokes. Just get to the point."

She eased off her banter and regarded him seriously. Part of her pitied him, part of her wanted to bash him up. Eventually, the former won. "I'm here to help you, boss."

"Oh, by letting Caroline hook up with a famous designer for her wedding dress?" He shot back sardonically.

"Can't you just say thank you to me?" She retorted irritably. "Anyway, I wanna ask you something. Why are you stupid enough to not do anything to get out of this rut? This is so unlike you."

Seto looked uncomfortable as he got up and looked out of the window. "I was wondering the same thing. But maybe I was to blame as well for why Caroline's the way she is." He glanced over his shoulder. "I did use to like Caroline back then. A lot. When we were younger. It was only after a few months after I took over KaibaCorp did I start to… forget about her and what we…"

His image consultant stared at him in disbelief. It was hard to imagine what sort of person her employer was before he became the person she came to know. All she knew was that he probably was nowhere near who he was now. She cocked an eyebrow in his direction and said suspiciously, "Don't tell me, back then you guys… uhh…"

"Once, just once," He answered her question contritely, keeping his face down. She could sense the regret in his voice. But was that regret for doing what they did or regret for liking Caroline? "I… we … lost control." He regarded her sharply. "But Mischa, that was nearly three years ago. I was never in touch or went anywhere near her since then, trust me."

"Did you love her?" Mischa asked bluntly.

"No," His answer was simple but offhanded. "It was just… I don't know. Something that went overboard."

Mischa was immediately thrown off by his answer. The first word that came to her mind was fling although technically they had something going on for a few years. He never even loved Caroline, and he led her on by agreeing to be engaged and then – Mischa forced herself to admit this - slept with her. Even though it was only once, it must have meant something to Caroline. Right now Mischa did not know who was more at fault: Seto for being the unexpected jerk, or Caroline for being the freaky leech now. Probably Caroline. After all, shouldn't she be getting the message that there was nothing between her and Seto after all that?

"But I do love Tea," Seto continued softly. Apparently he saw Mischa's face contort in shock, and he felt the need to justify himself. "It's different with her, Mis. I'd never do to her what I did to Caroline."

"You'd better not, but the moment you guys get together, you'll have to tell her," Mischa warned, rising from her seat. "I ain't telling for you." She eyed him exasperatedly. "So I assume you officially put me in charge of your wedding. So that means I'll have to get to work."

Seto locked eyes with her and asked warily, "Tea… how is she?"

Mischa shrugged. "Like you, she's being stupid. But you're faring better than her." Seto immediately looked as if he was stabbed in the chest. Deep down, Mischa just reconfirmed with her assumption that her once smart employer was being incredibly dense about the entire situation. What was he expecting Tea to be like? Happy? With one last look at him, Mischa lifted her face skywards, blew a strand of hair from her face and exited the office. Now off to retrieve her handphone from that scum.

XO XO XO XO

The doorbell to the penthouse rang, and Joey sprang the door open without looking through the peephole. When he saw four men who were probably of the same heritage as Mischa standing at the door, his face quickly became a mask of confusion. One of them – possibly the leader – who was dressed in a green T-shirt stepped forward and introduced himself as Marvell.

"Hey, Mis told me on the phone just now that there'll be three of you guys here?" Marvell explained. "I'm her friend, Marvell, and this is my team: Ringgo, Ervan and Syam. She told us to munch on this thumbdrive here." He held up the Kotex thumbdrive with pink and blue flowers on it. "And then meet her back here."

"Ehh… okay," Joey opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow them to enter. "But she ain't here yet."

"No worries," Marvell said absently, settling himself in front of her laptop. His friends went over to exchange hellos and introductions with Tristan and Yugi. He plugged the thumbdrive into the laptop. "She said she'll be reaching soon." Just then, the doorbell rang again, and Marvell looked up smugly. "There, I told you so."

Mischa blew into her penthouse and grinned at her entire team. "Okay, guys! Operation Undertaker underway!" She snapped her fingers at Marvell. "Vell, all info in and ready for sharing?"

There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You bet, dudette!" He reached out for a remote control in the desk drawer and pressed a button. A screen immediately came down behind him and the hidden projector in the ceiling came to life. "Now, my comrades, let me present to all of you what we know about a certain lady –"

"_Cewek sinting kali_…" Mischa muttered unhappily.

Marvell grinned at her. "Or as Mis would prefer to put it, crazy woman. Whatever you call her, let me present you what we know about her!"

Everybody's jaw just dropped as they read off the information that Marvell had thoughtfully collated on Powerpoint slides. Their expressions ranged from that of sympathy to that of incredulous. One thing was clear, though. They had to find a way to wreck the wedding.

"But how?" Joey asked the most obvious question of all.

"She sounds scary," Yugi interjected. He seemed to be in total disbelief of what he had just read. "I mean, how come nobody mentioned before that she was treated for psychological damage when she was a kid cos her mum died in front of her eyes?"

"Or that she only became okay after she met Kaiba?" Tristan added on. He sounded more annoyed that this information came to the surface later than they would have preferred. He turned to Mischa. "Are you _seriously_ saying we need to _wait_ for another three weeks? What if she loses it before that?"

Mischa frowned at them. "Guys, relax. I'm the wedding planner. I wanna get back at her for what she's done to my friends." At Joey's snort, she shot him a murderous look. "Yes, Joey, Seto is my friend. And Tea isn't just his girlfriend, she's our good friend too, isn't she?"

"So what's the idea?" Marvell asked curiously.

His longtime friend threw him an evil grin. "She humiliated them. When I say payback, we humiliate her. On national television. So before we get to work, who's up for some pizza?" She checked her watch. "Oh hey, somebody turn the tv on, will ya? Hannah Montana's on."

* * *

**word glossary (Javanese - English)**

**1. weduk ulo - snake lady**

**2. welut - eel**

**word glossary (Indonesian - English)**

**1. Kok kalian begok banget sih - how come you guys are so dumb**

**2. Cewek sinting kali - A crazy chick, maybe**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: yoohoo! haha, i'm glad most of you found the previous chapter funny! come to think of it, Mischa seems to be such a fun person to be around with. anw, chap 21 is here! if you were hoping to see Caroline get told off, then you'll probably like what is in store. go Seto and Misa and heck, the entire of KaibaCorp! Mischa is well... read for yourself. haha. she's so casual about everything.**

**okay, shall not waste anymore of your time reading this note. onwards to chap 21! keep the reviews pouring!**

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Yugi stared at her in horror. After the shock wore off, he quickly yelped, "No way, Mis! Are you for nuts or out of your mind?"

Mischa sighed, putting her spoon back down on her plate. She was just about to enjoy her seafood fried rice (despite being the cook, she was the last to eat) and she thought that it would be a good time to casually share her plan. Unfortunately, the Three Stooges was making it difficult for her. "It's either that or I put you up as the flower girl. But I think the latter's cute, isn't it? I mean, you in a lacey dress, with flowers in your hair, tossing flowers around… Caroline would love it!"

"And I'll be humiliated on national TV," Yugi fumed. He pointed to the other two. "How come _they_ aren't chosen to be Kaiba's best man?"

With a spoon still in her mouth, she turned around to where Joey and Tristan were happily watching an episode of WWE Smackdown. "Who? Those two? Hmm… let me see. Joey would start arguing with and insulting him at the altar, Tristan would break his neck. And oh, Mr Boss doesn't like either of them. So I gave them the honours of being ushers cum bouncers. But Seto respects you enough as an ally, so I choose you!"

Yugi frowned at her. "You know, you're making me feel like a Pokemon."

"I am?" Mischa beamed, downing another spoonful of fried rice. "That's cute. You can be Pikachu. You know, cos of your hair?" She bent over to the side of the desk, peered at the corner of the living room where Marvell and Co. were setting their apparatus up and called out, "Vell! Has the guitar started to sound yet?"

Marvell waved back a negative and Mischa went back to her lunch. It had been almost three days since Mischa came up with her brilliant idea. Somehow, she managed to get Joey, Yugi and Trsitan excused from school ("I call it abusing my employer's powers," she had explained cheerfully) and instead they had been camping out at her house. Being an image consultant meant she had an entire men's wardrobe on standby. Plus, Marvell and his friends did not mind bringing over extra clothing for them. So incidentally, for the past week the three of them had been wearing rather branded goods for casual wear.

The plan was simple, really. As promised, Mischa was in charge of planning the reception. In fact, she had already booked the location (Ritz-Carlton Hotel), hired the caterers and even called in nearly all the television stations in Japan to cover the event. She had even gone to meet her theatre props director acquaintance to be in charge of the interior of the ballroom. She had the ushers penciled in (Tristan and Joey) as well as the band cum technical director (Marvell agreed to sing off-key). All she needed to do now was to gather a few flower girls and figure out how to drag in a screen and an overhead projector into the ballroom.

Technically, that was all she needed to do. What she overlooked was the fact that she needed to train Joey and Tristan on how to be the perfect ushers, as well as Yugi on how to be the best best man. Thankfully, Marvell's group had Ringgo, who had to be the technical whiz among them to settle out the issue about the carpet (he had came up with the perfect idea on how to ruin the wedding dress using it), screen and projector.

Mischa reached out for her handphone and dialed Ale Wang's number. Something needed to be done to the dress. "Hola Ale! Whaddya up to? Allo Allo? Which ep?" Her forehead creased into a frown as she listened. "Renee and gang are still harping on about hiding the painting of the Madonna with the big boobies? I hate that part. Anyway, amiga, about Carol's dress? You see, she's uhh… pregnant, so you're gonna have to make the waist part a bit loose. Don't wanna have to end up suffocating the poor baby, right?" Mischa rolled her eyes. It was ridiculous news; of course Caroline was far from pregnant. "I know, I know, she probably asked for the tightest corset wedding dress you ever have, but ignore her whims. I've sent you over the design that I want you to make for her via email. Oh don't worry, she'll love it. Adios!"

XO XO XO XO

Tea doodled blindly onto her notepad. Without her friends in school, she was bored out of her wits. Then again, maybe that was a good thing. She ended up being so bored out of her wits that she almost forgot about Seto's impending wedding in less than a fortnight. Sometimes her friends came over in the evening, update her with what they were to and as usual, their anecdotes always made her laugh. But she had to admit, she did feel a pang of jealousy when she heard their tales.

"Don't worry, Ti. It's better you're not there," Joey assured her. "She lets the rest of us do the dirty jobs."

Perhaps the guys had told Mischa about her reaction, because the SMSes from Mischa were becoming more frequent now. Initially, the messages were basically asking about how she was. Over time, it was filled with snippets about the going-ons of the day. Then the SMSes started becoming about requests and fixed spa or manicure or hair-dressing appointments for the both of them. In fact, those luxury trips became so frequent that Tea was wondering if she was becoming too used to being pampered.

_I hope Mis knows what she's doing_, she thought, pulling out her Geography textbook from her bag. _But I trust her._

XO XO XO XO

Seto turned a deaf ear to all of Caroline's ramblings. Apparently she was telling Seto about their post-wedding plans, including their house and even their location for honeymoon. She had thrown up ideas for Bali, Phuket, even Marseille. When her fiancé ignored her and carried on with his work, she grabbed a file from his desk and slammed it loudly onto the table.

He looked up sharply. "What the hell are you up to?" He snapped. "Are you blind, or are you pretending not to see that I'm at work?"

"I'm talking to you about our honeymoon and you're not even listening!" Caroline screeched.

"I'm just marrying you to honour the contract," Seto responded coldly before getting back to his work. "I don't love you, and I won't. After our marriage, we'll have an official residence. But I'll stay at my mansion and you stay at yours. We don't even have to meet. So you can forget about the honeymoon because there won't be any."

Caroline stared at him in shock. Her voice was shaking. Whether it was out of anger or she was really hurt by his words, Seto did not know. Then again, he barely cared. "Wh-What are you talking about?"

Without warning, Seto got up abruptly from his seat and dragged her by the wrist to his office door. "This is what you want, isn't it?" He hissed in a dangerously low voice. He expected Caroline to look up at him with fear, but she seemed to be more enthralled by him. He sighed. He forgot how much danger appealed to her. He opened the door and pushed her out. "Leave my office, Carol. Please, just stay out of my life for the next two weeks at least."

She freed herself from his grip and crossed her arms as she retorted stubbornly, "Don't think I'm going to listen to you, Seto. After all, I own almost half of this company."

Seto scoffed. "Dream on. Maybe you want to check your shares again." At Caroline's pale face, he smirked wider. "That's what you get for not going to work like a normal person. Now get out of my building!" With that, he slammed the door in her face. Man, did that feel good.

Outside, Caroline stared shell-shocked at the door that was slammed in her face. Almost instantly, her face contorted into that of fury and she pounded on the door, yelling, "Do that again, Seto Kaiba, and you'll be sorry!"

From her desk, Misa stifled a laugh. Raising her head to smirk in Caroline's direction, she responded politely, "I'm sorry, Miss Lobo, but I believe Mr Kaiba couldn't care less what you're talking about. Would you like the latest shares reports of Kaiba Corporation so you can expect how much you have left? You really should have put your shares off the market."

Caroline let out a screech of anger and duly stormed into the lift and effectively, out of the building. The moment the lift door closed behind her, Misa let out the loud laugh that she had been suppressing. "Serves her right!" She managed to breathe out through her laughter. She punched the button on the phone that connected her to her employer's. "Mr Kaiba? You should have seen her reaction just now! Classic!"

Inside his office, Seto Kaiba afforded himself a smile. "Thank you for the update, Misa," He spoke into the phone calmly. "And can you please issue a memorandum to all the employees thanking them for everything?"

"But of course, Mr Kaiba," Misa replied happily.

"Thank you for everything, Misa," Seto added on quietly. "Thank you for rallying the employees to help me out. To get them to pitch in to buy up ten percent of her shares. It must have been asking a lot from them."

"Mr Kaiba, you sound weird saying thanks, but I'll pass the message on."

XO XO XO XO

Yugi stabbed his ravioli in silence, throwing discreet death glances at his Indonesian host who was blissfully onto her second helping of the Italian dish. Normal people would have ravioli probably for lunch or dinner. People like Mischa decided to have it for breakfast. And no thanks to her hyperactive mind yesterday, Yugi ended up having nightmares about him being the flower girl that Mischa pictured. Naturally, when he awoke, it caused him great distress.

The rest of the guys had gobbled down their ravioli as fast as possible, grabbed a couple of bags of chips and headed for the living room where entertainment consoles awaited them. Marvell was the exceptional one; he was doing dishes in the kitchen. Apparently that caused him to be at the end of the guys' ribbings.

"Eh, Yug?" Mischa suddenly noticed his silent attitude. "Anything wrong with my ravioli? Too much cheese?"

"No, it's fine," Yugi assured her. "It's just that I dreamt that I was a flower girl."

"A flower what?!" His words caused Mischa to crack up. "I was kidding! Oh my god. I already found a suit for you. Don't tell me you want a dress?"

"No!" Yugi immediately replied. He could feel his cheeks burning. "I'm the best man. Right. I got the job and accepted it. You already prepared my suit?"

"Yups," Mischa got up to clear the table. She went to put the plates in the sink where Marvell was scrubbing the pot and went back in. This time round, she hollered, "Okay, dudes! Line up and get ready to get into your costumes!"

"Music for the day?" Syam scurried over to the stereo set.

Mischa's face scrunched up for a while as she thought of a suitable artiste for the day. She held up a hand and ticked off a couple of artistes, "Lemme see. Uhh… John Lennon? Nah. St12! _Cintaku, cintaku padamu_ … Nahh. The Three Stooges won't understand. Okay, plug in Michael Jackson! Beat it! Just beat it!"

Syam flinched. "Mis, please. Do anything, but sing."

Once the stereo set played Jacko's songs, Mischa made them head into the guest room to change into their costumes. Joey and Tristan barged in and waddled out in their ushers' costumes: a long-sleeved white dress shirt paired with black slacks. It was a smart attire, but it looked awkward on the duo. Mischa frowned at them and pointed for them to move to the side. It was Marvell and his team next. They ran in and swaggered out in impeccable long black formal coats. That was, until they removed their coats to expose a leather and chains getup which was definitely inappropriate for a wedding.

"And that's the way it must be, if Khelaidoescope is to rock the ballroom down!" Marvell crowed.

"Make sure Khelaidosescope do their job," Mischa warned before turning her attention to Joey and Tristan. "Okay, you two. Stand up straight, don't slouch. Sheesh. You two have a lot of working to do."

"What's wrong with us?" Tristan asked out loud, sounding slightly offended.

Mischa clucked her tongue. "A lot. You two need an etiquette crash course! How to stand, how to walk, how to welcome the guests, how to talk." She pulled out her notebook. "I shall pencil you guys in for an appointment with my friend. He can help you out." She frowned. "He better help you two out. And Yugi as well. Anyway, you guys will only have to be proper until that _welut_ enters the ballroom. After that, technical team over there –" She jerked her head in the quartet's direction. "Will take over. Now excuse me, I want to let out my evil laugh! I've been practicing it, you know."

Ringgo grabbed Marvell's shoulder and slammed his head on it. Marvell patted Syam's head and Evan's sadly as they looked on. The Three Stooges exchanged 'she must be kidding' looks. Apparently, the entire wedding deal had gotten to and messed up with Mischa's head.

XO XO XO XO

He raised a hand as if to knock, then lowered it again. He felt so guilty – and ashamed now, after he spilled everything to Mischa – that he wondered if he even deserved to be standing at her doorstep. But they had broken off any form of contact since three weeks ago, and as much as he tried to get it out of his mind, he missed her presence in his life. Finally he braved himself and pressed the doorbell. Whatever awaited him, he would accept it head on.

The door opened, and her eyes widened at the sight of him standing before her. "Se-Seto?"

"Tea," he greeted her softly. He inclined his head towards her living room. "May I come in?"

"Of course," She held the door out wider, and Seto stepped in. As he did, she watched him and the emotions started gushing out. But she quickly put a lid on it. He wasn't hers anymore. "I'll get you a drink."

He shook his head. "That's not necessary. I … I just came here to … see you."

Tea swallowed hard the lump in her throat and quickly looked away. "That's … nice."

He neared her and let the tips of his fingertips lightly touch her face. "Tea …" She still kept her face down, and he carefully lifted her chin up. "Look at me, please." When she did, he let his eyes wander over features slowly, and a small smile lit his face.

She narrowed her eyes and asked in mock irritation, "What?"

"I can't believe I made this pretty face cry," He remarked quietly, his fingers gingerly brushing back a lock of her hair behind her ear. "It should be smiling, or be mad at me."

"I missed you," Tea blurted out suddenly, and the first drop of tear fell. Seto wordlessly stroked it away with the back of his forefinger. "I know I made the decision to end it for our own good, but I can't help regretting it. It just seemed so unfair, why we had to put an end to what we barely started."

"I put us in the situation," He responded in a bid to reassure her. "It's my fault, Tea. You don't have to feel bad about it." Seto removed his hand from her face and let it hang loosely by his side. "I just came to see how you're doing."

She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head furiously. "I'm not okay."

"You are," He attempted to say it firmly, but his voice did not sound that convincing. "You will be. You have to, in case …"

_Mischa's plan fails_. The same thought crossed their mind, but neither of them dared to say it out.

Tea suddenly reached out to grab Seto's arm, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Don't go, please," Tea pleaded through her tears. "Don't go."

Seto closed one hand on hers and said painfully, "I don't want to hurt you anymore than what you already had been." _I can't tell her about my past with Caroline …_

"I don't want you to leave me," Tea's voice was lowered to a choked whisper. She knew this was not any easier on him either. But with barely two weeks left until the possibility that he became somebody else's…

She was taken by surprise when she felt strong arms encircling her, and the familiar brush of lips against her forehead. He spoke almost inaudibly, "I won't." He pulled back slightly, and bent down to slowly press his lips against hers. "I won't." Then they pulled apart, and his eyes ticked over to a nearby clock. "It's nearly midnight."

"The time when all fairytales end?" Tea retorted.

"Unfortunately," Seto attempted to make a feeble joke out of it and failed miserably. "I …" He hesitated, then cupped her face and kissed her more fiercely than before, as if wishing that this kiss would be enough to accompany him a lifetime. The intensified kiss took Tea by surprise initially, but eventually even she gave in to it. Suddenly she found him struggling to pry himself away from her grip, and she relented. He breathed out, "I …" He looked wildly into her eyes, but forced himself to say, "Goodbye Tea."

With that, he turned on his heels and headed quickly out of the door and into his car. Tea helplessly watched his Ferrari take off into the night. Deep down, she prayed hard that Mischa's plan would work. She needed it to work.

As Seto sped down the street, his mind wandered back to events starting from nearly seven years back, and how Caroline entered his life. She had been the daughter of Gozaburo's associate, and Seto cursed himself for letting himself be captivated by her looks. It was purely for her looks, he realized now, that his stupid thirteen-year-old self ended up being crazy about. He remembered how thrilled he was when it turned out she liked him too. That was what led them to be insane enough to sign an engagement contract at the tender age of fourteen. Seto gunned his car to a brake as memories of their first time flooded his mind. Furiously, he tried hard to shake it off from his head. It was a mistake, a whimsical mistake by two adolescents who lost control of themselves and the situation at the back of his limo.

Seto cranked up his stereo and hurried to find any radio station that was playing any genre of music that he hated. That was the only way he could stop these memories, by turning his focus into getting annoyed at trivial things like hiphop on the radio. The method worked, and soon Seto was once again racing down the empty night streets.

_Caroline was a huge mistake,_ he thought regretfully. _And maybe what I'm facing now is just part of facing up to my past mistakes. But I promise you, Tea, I won't ever treat you like that. Because you're not a mistake; you're my life._

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**Word glossary (javanese - english):**

**welut - eel**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: hey guys! here's chap 22 of the fic. takes a peek a few days before the wedding, so yes, the wedding will be in the next chap!**

**keep the reviews coming guys! glad you guys loved the story so far! can't wait to start on the wedding chapter. haha!**

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" '_Kau gadisku yang cantik. Cuba lihat aku di sini …'_ " The males in the penthouse effectively pretended that Mischa's singing of St12's hit song PUSPA was worthy of the 12 finalists on American Idol. Joey had gone one step further and plugged his ears with earplugs.

It was barely a few days left to the wedding, and everything was in place. Even Joey, Tristan and Yugi had successfully completed their etiquette crash course. Maybe that was the reason why they were all lounging about in her living room and doing nothing but karaoke. At least, Mischa and Marvell did. The others forced themselves to be patient and listen in on their squawking and senseless dancing.

" '_Jangan jangan kau tak terima cintaku! Jangan jangan kau –'_ " Mischa cut off midway through the song and fished for her handphone in her jeans pocket. She frowned at the number. She turned to her friends, "Eh, guys. Carry on. Mr Boss is calling."

She shuffled away from them and into the kitchen, where the sound did not travel that far. She winced at Marvell's warbling voice. He sings like a strangled cat, she thought wryly as she answered the call. "Helloooooo Mr Boss!"

"Good afternoon Mis," Her employer's cool voice traveled over the phone. "How're the preparations?"

Mischa balanced her phone on her shoulder and pulled open the refrigerator door. As she answered, her eyes skimmed the fridge contents. "Eh? All fine, I guess. The dress is ready, so is the rest of the preparations." She frowned as she struggled to fish for a carton of milk. "Oh yes, you're clear on what to do on that day? Well, technically you don't have to be the runaway groom on that day. She'll run away before anything. Don't worry, your reputation will be all fixed. Don't you trust me?" She listened in to his reply, and laughed. "Mr Boss, how many times have I told you that you have the best employee in me?"

They exchanged goodbyes and Mischa happily put her phone away. Her eyes skimmed to the calendar on the fridge door and smiled. Less than three days to go to showdown. Incidentally, a McDonald's fridge magnet held the calendar in place. Mischa immediately agreed with its mantra: I'm lovin' it.

XO XO XO XO

Seto thanked his clients and requested Misa to accompany them out. He leaned back in his leather chair smugly. Ever since Caroline stopped bothering him by turning up unannounced in his office, he could do his work in a much more peaceful environment. Plus, with Mischa's undisputed assurances that everything was in place for the wedding, he could feel half the burden on his shoulder lifted. He could not recall ever being this pleased in a long time.

Everything started to fall into place when Misa walked into his office and handed him a contract stating that he would purchase ten percent of the shares in his own company. Seto had wondered how the ten percent was made available, and that was when Misa spilled the beans. The moment she heard that Caroline had managed to garner up to 49% of KaibaCorp and effectively making her power on the company on par to Seto's, Misa had – illegally, of course – managed to convince her contact at Lobo Industries to put up Caroline's ten percent up for sale. Then she had passed a quick memo to all the heads of the departments of the company: gather as many people as possible to pump in money to save our company. Seto might be harsh sometimes on his employees, but he appreciated those outstanding ones. That was why it was easy for Misa to garner their support (and their money).

After hearing her explanation, Seto did not miss a beat in signing the agreement and thus right now he owned 61 percent of his company. Slowly but surely, he knew his investors would buy back their shares. After all, Mischa had just revealed to him that Caroline gained them through illegal means. To have her shares ripped away from her through illegal methods as well, it felt like sweet retribution.

He frequently met up with Mischa nowadays – with 'frequently' meaning for about an hour once a week. They spent that time simply talking about the going-ons in their lives, or having dinner. Once in a while he dropped by Mischa's penthouse, only to find her friends working like crazy trying to complete preparations for the wedding. The last time he went there, Ringgo was adjusting the hooks on the carpet, Joey and Tristan were strutting around like idiots and Mischa furiously trying to ruin the wedding dress as inconspicuously as possible.

His handphone beeped and he picked it up. He exhaled in annoyance as he saw who the message was from. Regardless, he read the message: Honey, let's have dinner tonight! I already made reservations at Chevron's. It's at seven. I'll be waiting for you.

Seto promptly deleted the message. She could wait for all she could. He had better things to do like settling his company's finances and plotting the takeover of her company. Besides, hadn't he already told her to butt out of his life until the wedding day?

He leaned forward to punch a button on his office phone. "Misa? Can you tell Mokuba to come up to my office?"

A few minutes passed and soon his office doors swung open. Seto looked up and smiled slightly at the sight of a bubbly Mokuba bouncing in. His brother's attitude had perked up tremendously ever since Caroline decided to disappear from their lives temporarily. Most probably it was due to the fact that the brothers could spend more time together. Whatever the case, Seto was more than happy to see his brother happy.

"Hey Big Brother!" Mokuba beamed as he bounded up to Seto's side. His eyes landed on the papers on his brother's desk. "We got new projects?"

"Yes," Seto remarked, smiling wider. He gestured to the papers. "Ervan Groeing requested our technology for his latest video games."

Mokuba's eyes widened. "You mean, Groeing of Groeing Entertainment?"

His older brother smirked. "Precisely. It's a multi-billion project. If we ace it, well… it can cover KaibaCorp's finances for an entire year. We don't even have to take on other projects for the duration."

"So you mean, you're gonna have more free time?"

Seto frowned. "Not really. Maybe for the first few months we'll have to put in extra work. Post-production stage would be less tedious. So maybe the leeway would be from that point onwards." He regarded his brother optimistically. "Anyway, I want you to work closely with me for this project. The games are intended for teenagers your age. Who else would know better about what would appeal to them than one of their own?"

Mokuba grinned and rushed forward to hug Seto excitedly. "Thank you Seto! Thank you Seto! Thank you! Oh my God, you rock!"

The brunette ruffled his brother's jet-black hair. "Thank you for the compliment. You tell me when you want to start on the project."

"Now!" Mokuba practically yelled.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Are all your homework settled?" Mokuba's expression faltered. Seto smirked and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Only when you've finished them could you start on this project."

"Aw, come on Seto," Mokuba pleaded, putting on his most pitiful face.

His brother did not sway his decision. Instead, he inclined his head towards his office door. "Homework first, Mokuba."

XO XO XO XO

Caroline glanced around the restaurant anxiously. Where was he? She checked her watch. It was already eight. Shouldn't he already be here by now? She raised a hand slightly, and immediately caught the attention of a skinny waiter nearby.

"Yes, Miss Lobo?" He queried politely.

Her pretty face creased into a sad frown. "Is my fiancé here yet?"

The waiter shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Lobo, but I haven't seen Mr Kaiba anywhere on the premises."

"Not even his car in front of the restaurant?" She sounded genuinely worried, it was enough to make the waiter to pity her. He thought that the KaibaCorp CEO was being foolish for making such a beautiful and pleasant girl suffer waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lobo, but no."

Caroline waved him off and sat back in her seat. One hand reached out to cup a glass of red wine, which she slowly sipped. Didn't he receive her message? Pouting, she flipped out her handphone and furiously dialed his number. His number was out of reach. She slammed her handphone down on the table. She seethed for a moment, staring straight ahead, then she abruptly got up and fled out of the restaurant.

Her Alfa Romeo was awaiting her, and she promptly got in. She sat in the backseat quietly for a while, contemplating where to go to. Why was Seto doing this to her? Didn't he agree to marry her? Then shouldn't he be getting ready for life after marriage?

_Why does he hate me so much?_ She wondered. _Can't he see that I'm just doing what we agreed on? Her mind flashed back to a certain brunette with cerulean eyes, and her face hardened. It must be because of her. What's so special about her that I don't have? I'm prettier, I'm richer and I'm definitely more powerful than her. He's three days away to the wedding and he still refuses to accept that I will be a permanent part of his life._

She raised her head slightly and spoke to her chauffeur in a curt voice, "Drive. I'll tell you where to turn, and where to stop."

XO XO XO XO

Tea was startled out of her deep concentration on the serial drama that was on TV by a rude knock on her door. Frowning, she went over to open it. She barely had time to look when a sharp blow landed across her cheek. Glaring, she came face to face with a hysterical Caroline.

"What do you want?" Tea spat. Her anger was more due to the fact that she was slapped than the fact that Seto was due to marry Caroline soon.

"I hope that hurts," Caroline replied, smiling sweetly. She flipped her blonde tresses over her shoulder. "I want you to tell me. What is so special about you until he can't forget about you?"

Tea stared back at her with a disbelieving look that Mischa would have said was worthy of Hannah Montana. "Say _what_?"

Unfortunately, the blonde was in no mood to be congenial. "Don't act dumb with me. I want you to tell me, what is it that you have that I don't!"

The brunette frowned at her stupid demand. "You know, you should be the one asking yourself that. And besides, I don't have anything to do with him anymore. You've assaulted me once. Don't tell me you're planning to do it again?"

Caroline's body trembled with rage. She hissed, "I told you, the next time I'll finish you."

Tea thanked the lucky stars for bringing Mischa into her life. The latter really taught her a lot about standing up for your rights. "You know," she remarked ever so casually. "I still have the note. I can always report you to the police."

Caroline appeared unfazed. "Do it if you dare. But I'm warning you, stay away from my fiancé. Maybe he was yours, but from today onwards he's mine and he'll always remain mine." She threw Tea a condescending smile. "Actually, he was _always_ mine. Didn't he tell you?"

"Told me what?"

The blonde's smile just grew wider. She leaned in slightly and articulated the words so perfectly, "That I was his first time."

If Tea was shocked, she did not make it a point of showing it to Caroline. Instead, she just said coldly, "You're telling me things that have nothing to do with me."

Apparently, her reaction seemed to throw Caroline into a gleeful fit. "That's right," She continued. "I bet he's never even held your hand properly, much more – "

"I pity him for getting married to a shameless woman like you," Tea held hand up to interject. She had enough of this. Was all Caroline saying true? In any case, she had to play her part of being nonchalant about the upcoming nuptial, "Congratulations on your wedding and your _baby_, and I hope your child is a boy so he can take over his father's wealth and effectively place you as his guardian until he grows up. Now please get out."

XO XO XO XO

Seto looked up from his desk computer to realize that the sky had already gone dark. He turned around and peered out of the window. The starless and moonless night gave no indication what time it was. But he did not have to think for too long, though. Just at that moment, Mokuba peeked his head into the office and called out, "Seto, it's nearly one. Aren't you going home yet?"

The older Kaiba frowned. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? And what are you still doing in the office at this hour? I thought I had asked Roland to make sure that you're back at home by ten."

Mokuba stuck his lower lip out. "I told him I wanted to wait for you. You know, just to make sure that you don't camp out in your office. Again."

Seto frowned. "I don't camp in my office. Not all the time anyway."

His younger brother rolled his eyes. "So how come you've been wearing the same clothes since the past two days?"

Unsure what to retort with, Seto merely grunted and forced himself to get out of his seat and turn off the computer. He grabbed his coat that was hung from his chair and went up to his brother, steering Mokuba out by the shoulder. Once he locked the door to his office, he peered down at his brother, "I'm going home now, alright?"

"And make sure you go to sleep," Mokuba continued to nag as he kept up with Seto's long strides. "If I ever catch you with your laptop on your bed, I'm going to break it."

"I'll just buy a new one," Seto retorted simply. "I already have all the data backed up."

"Then I'll burn your hard drives. I'm serious, Seto. I want you to go home and sleep. You can go to work again in five hours time. Four if you're so insistent. But go to –"

"Sleep," Seto finished for him tiredly. "Yes. Fine. I will. Now hurry up."

XO XO XO XO

Mischa yawned and rubbed her eyes furiously. She had no idea what time it was, but it must have been late. The Three Stooges had trooped off to bed. Only Ringgo remained behind, and even he seemed to be dozing off at his carpet. Mischa only hoped he would not end up poking his eye with one of the hidden hooks. There was no need to have a walking horror movie in her home.

She set her needle and thread away. Better stop now before she pricked her finger or worse yet, pierce the needle right through her finger. The dress was already altered to not fit Caroline, anyway. Shuffling to her feet, she picked up a pillow and tossed it until it landed smack on Ringgo's head. She always imagined the spikes on his hair were sharp enough to pierce a pillow. Thankfully, it was not.

'Wha – Get off me! Get off me!" Ringgo blabbered nonsensically as he was jolted awake. When he discovered that he was leaning against the couch, he immediately calmed down. His eyes landed on the culprit. "Sheesh, Mischa. You scared me."

His friend yawned. "Yeah, yeah," she retorted sleepily. "If I didn't you'd probably be drooling all over my couch. Do you know how much it cost?"

Ringgo regarded her incredulously. "Mis, you got it for two hundred at a cash converter, remember? We helped you lug it all the way up."

"Fine, whatever, you win. Now get out of my way. I want to go to –" Her words got cut off when she suddenly shrieked. She was suddenly wide awake, and managed to leap onto her couch as she kept on shrieking, pointing at the floor. "Cockroach! And I stepped on it! EWWWW!"

Ringgo bent down and picked it up by its feelers. "Mis, it's dead. You killed it."

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" Apparently, his words offered her no solace. "I can stand lizards, but not cockroaches."

"Rats?" Ringgo asked hopefully. He went over to the window, opened it and tossed the dead, squashed cockroach down

"No idea, never met one," Mischa scowled at him as she got her feet back on the floor but careful not to step on where the cockroach was murdered. "And can you disinfect this area?"

"I was actually thinking of putting a sign there saying: Mischa killed an innocent cockroach in cold blood."

She glared at him. "You do that and I'll make sure next time I'll hang you from my window." She huffed, grabbed the wedding dress and sewing kit and stomped to her room.

"You're going to sleep with a wedding dress?" Ringgo sounded stupid saying that.

"Was," She corrected him hastily. "But no thanks to that cockroach, it's woken me up. And don't forget to Dettol that area at least twice. Cockroach guts. Yucks."

Ringgo chuckled as he watched her slam her bedroom door behind her. He glanced at his carpet. It was already done, actually. It was just that his overcautious personality drove him to triple-check the carpet and to see that all the hooks are in place. Ringgo yawned and flopped himself on the couch. _Whatever Mis,_ he thought sleepily as he slowly lost consciousness_. If I drool on your couch, so be it. He patted the couch's arm. Sorry couch's arm. But be my pillow for the night._


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: hey guys! finally, the much awaited wedding scene. i had to quickly upload this before i start to feel really bad for Caroline and soften her punishment. muahaha. hope you guys love this yeah! keep the reviews coming!**

**lace kyoko: all the best for your midterms!**

**am quadrus: hope your shoulder is all better now!**

**okay, i'm shutting up so i can let you guys read. haha! enjoyy!**

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Seto frowned at his reflection. Mischa had sent over one of her stylists (an effeminate man slightly older than her named Ruben but preferred to be called Ruby) to dress him up, and he grudgingly obliged in the end. At first, he refused – after all, what was the need to dress up so nicely when he was not actually going to get married? But Ruby had insisted that Seto do nothing but remain still as he was styled. That explained why he was now standing in front of the full-length mirror studying his off-white tailored Armani suit and his hair. The hair especially was irritating him; he could see the gel on his dark brown hair.

"So sir, are we ready to go?" Ruby beamed from the door. He straightened himself and let out a squeal. "You look sooo fine! Too bad it's not a real wedding. You would have looked out of this world! All the girls would swoon and just kill to be at least two inches away from you! And the hair! I love – "

Seto held a hand up to cut him off. "Okay, cut it off. Where's the car? The faster this thing gets settled, the faster I get out of this monkey costume and the faster I get back to my life."

"Monkey costume?" Ruby gasped. "It's Armani, hon! Armani!"

"I don't care even if you say it's made from the craters of the moon," Seto retorted dryly. "Now hurry up. Do you think I'm so free to be doing nothing but stand here all day?"

Ruby sighed but led the obnoxious CEO out of the studio and towards an awaiting Bugatti Veyron. Again, Seto shot him a 'you must be more ridiculous than I thought' look. Ruby shrugged and held the door out for Seto. The groom-to-be wordlessly eased into the multi-million dollar vehicle and grunted as it turned out that he had to make way for Ruby's beanpole frame.

"Whose idea was it to rent this complete waste of money?" Seto asked bluntly. Clearly, he was not happy at all with the proceedings of the day.

Ruby winced. "Well, you did leave everything to Mischa."

Her employer sighed. "I bet she purposely did this to rack up the total bill for this wedding."

As if she could read his mind, her number came out on the screen when his handphone rang. "I know you're probably swearing at me now for all the lavish monstrosity. Don't worry, I only charge you for your suit, and it's only what, four hundred? The car is settled by your dear darling beloved beautiful fiancée. Are you sure you don't want to really marry her?

Seto scowled. "Mischa …" he said in a warning tone.

"Alright! Alright! I know you're not going to marry her, but make sure you do that! Cos I'm telling you, for a skank she looks absolutely stunning now although I tried to make her dress not fit her. Okay, I think I gotta go. She's coming."

The brunette gritted his teeth as he ended the conversation. As much as he appreciated her, sometimes she got him riled up too much. He looked down at his suit. Just four hundred bucks for a suit that he would probably never wear again? He made a mental note to give her a paycut.

XO XO XO XO

Mischa forced herself to smile as widely as possible as Caroline twirled around in her wedding dress. _Dang the skank_, she thought furiously to herself. _How did she have the brains to have her own stylist on standby and fix the dress that I fixed? _Not only that, the Lobo heiress also had her personal French hairstylist cum makeup artist flown in specially for the wedding. Her unforeseen action rendered the services of Mischa's stylists unneeded. In fact, what peeved Mischa now more was that her stylist team were made to clean after Caroline's stylist.

"How do I look?" Caroline asked out as loudly and as girly-like as possible. She twirled around again in front of her full-length mirror.

Mischa and her team resisted the urge to vomit. Seriously, there was no need to ask the people around here because she would not accept anything less than "You look splendid ma chere!"

So instead, they all nodded as enthusiastically as possible. Mischa ran over to the door and held it out, "I think Mr Boss would just like fall over his feet when he sees such a radiant princess! Oh my God, I think the theme is like so perfect! A fairytale wedding! A prince, and a princess!"

Caroline seemed to buy that truckload of rubbish, because she suddenly blushed and grabbed Mischa's arm. "Oh Mis, don't make me blush before it's time! Come on! I don't want to be late!"

If her arm was free, Mischa would have ran over to the nearest pillar and slammed her head against it. Instead, she had to be content with secretly grinding her teeth as she let herself be dragged out by Caroline. Well, at least her suffering would only last until they reached the ballroom. After that, the real fun would start.

XO XO XO XO

_Didn't he tell you? That I was his first time?_

She tried with all her might to push that smug voice to a far deep corner of her mind where hopefully it would never resurface. As she did so, one hand furiously stabbed a faux dangling rhinestone earring on her earlobe. Despite all that, the voice refused to go away.

_So what?_ Tea furiously tried to convince herself. _She doesn't matter to him, right? He said so himself._

_If she doesn't matter to him, then why did he take her?_ A skeptical part of her questioned. _And from the way she said it, it had to be consensual._

"But he doesn't love her," She told her reflection confidently as she dusted the faintest trace of light pink blusher on the apples of her cheek. "He doesn't love her."

_Doesn't he, really?_ The skeptical voice sounded again. _Maybe he loves you, but just how sure are you that he doesn't want her at the same time? Have you seen how she looks like?_

Tea shook her head and willed the voice in her head to stop. She trusted Seto. He would never do that to her. Her eyes flickered up to catch sight of her unsure reflection. Would he?

XO XO XO XO

Seto crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. He looked everywhere but at the little guy standing beside him nervously or at the door where the two circus monkeys in ushers' uniform stood, welcoming the guests and showing them the way to their seats. Once in a while his eyes flickered over to a brunette dressed in a white sheath dress seated in the third row, but she barely threw him a glance.

"Yugi, stop shuffling around," He said in a low voice so the guests would not hear him.

"I can't help it," Yugi replied unthinkingly.

His archrival-friend glared down at him, probably wondering why he had to endure listening to stupid remarks like that. Seriously. All of this was just an act that would be over soon. Unfortunately, the bill for this false wedding was not.

His blue eyes ticked over to the band at a corner of the ballroom. He snorted at the sight of their long formal coats. Anyone with common sense would know that it would be impossibly hard to rock on the guitar or bash up the drum set dressed like that. Then again, none of the guests here had an inkling of what was to come. The band was keeping true to their act; Syam was crooning Jamie Cullum's Everlasting Love, and the rest of the band played out the jazz effortlessly.

Suddenly Joey and Tristan hurried to close the doors. The band quickly ended the song and they looked as if they were tinkering around to prepare for the operatic entrance of the bride. All the guests' attention was focused on the door, so no one noticed the band quickly disposing of the coats to reveal their leather and chains costume. Marvell switched his electric guitar out of jazz acoustic. He gave a firm nod to the rest of his band members. It was almost time.

Joey and Tristan pulled open one door each to reveal the bride at the doorway. As if on cue, everyone gasped at the sight of the bashfully-veiled bride making her way into the ballroom. Behind her, Mischa rolled her eyes and scurried to stand by Joey's side. She kept one hand behind her; that same hand held a remote control.

The band launched into the first few notes of Nathrach, and both the guests and bride seemed pleased with how apt the song was. The moment Caroline was one-quarter of her way down the carpet, the band snapped out of their classical funk and launched into their usual rock music by jamming to Oasis's The Masterplan. The moment of shock from all unsuspecting human beings in the ballroom was all Mischa need. Surreptitiously she whipped out the remote control and pressed a button. _Plan A will now launch into motion,_ she thought, resisting the urge to rub her hands in glee.

Caroline quickly erased the look of shock on her face and replaced it with her initial mock shyness. She placed one foot forward, then another foot, and then her right foot again and – then there was a ripping sound.

She paused and whirled around. To her horror, half of her skirt was lying on the carpet. As she felt her face burning, she hurriedly ran a hand over her back and realized just how bad the damage was. She flipped her veil over her head, but the see-through lace was barely opaque enough to offer decent coverage. Caroline glanced around wildly in abject horror; more and more of her guests were stifling their laughter. Suddenly one of them accidentally let out a loud laugh (technically the culprit was Joey, but Caroline was too stunned to realize that) and soon half of the hall erupted into laughter. Mischa hurriedly looked down, suppressed a smirk before looking up again with mock terror in her eyes as she ran over to band. She signaled them to stop and said into the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, please. Settle down."

The crowd eventually did, but by then Caroline was near tears. Still, she braved an attempt to glance at Mischa's direction as if awaiting a cue. The Indonesian, being the good wedding planner she was, gestured to her to just carry on and ignore the crowd. Caroline stood there rooted for a while, her head swiveling around to catch a glimpse of the crowd's reaction. Apparently they all had gotten over that embarrassing incident, even the television crew.

Keeping her face down, Caroline injected more speed into her steps as she hurried to walk along the carpet until it was only one-quarter of the distance left to where Seto and the marriage registrar was waiting. Usually people would have had an altar at the end of the carpet, but both she and Seto were atheists, so civil marriage was the best option available.

_Just a few more steps, Carol,_ she thought desperately to herself as she sought to cover the last lap. _Just a few more steps, you can sit down, quickly sign the marriage contract and leave._

She forced herself to smile in Seto's direction, although it was more of a smile to reassure herself that everything would turn out as she planned. Her future husband was nonchalant as always, his face not even giving any hint if he was mesmerized by her as she was by him. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself to finish off the last lap. She was even prepared to make a run for it.

Suddenly she heard a whirring sound. Caroline looked up to see a screen coming down directly above her head. Shrieking, she jumped two steps forward in a bid to avoid the screen. When the screen came down, it missed her head by mere milimetres. Her mind suddenly raced, _What's going on here? What's a screen doing here blocking all the guests from seeing me and Seto officially tie the knot?_

Something seemed to be showing on the screen, because Caroline heard the crowd gasping and saw that an increasing number of them were staring intently at the screen. Her heart beat wildly. _Something must be wrong,_ she realized. Grabbing what was left of her skirt in her hands, she side-stepped the screen until she was standing directly beside it. When she looked up to see what everyone was so intrigued by, she almost got the shock of her life.

It was her financial credits, and a detailed summary of how and where the Lobos obtained them, her especially. The businessmen among the crowd immediately recognized two of Italy's most feared mafia Don on the list, and there was no doubting the source of their businesses: money laundering, gambling, drugs, prostitution. Worse still, it was televised live nationwide that she had a share in every one of their businesses. Caroline blanched as the realization dawned upon her.

She threw herself onto the middle of the screen, hands outstretched and said as loudly and as convincingly as she could, "It's not true! All of this is a lie! I never had business associations with criminals! Please! Whoever is in charge of all this… all this lies, I demand that you put an end to it now or I'll sue you for defamation!"

While she was yelling out her empty threat, the visual on the screen changed from that of her financial credits to that of her provocative photos on bed with a man. Everyone could tell that it was clearly not the KaibaCorp boss despite the face being pixelated because the man in the photos had peroxide blond hair. As if the revelation of those photos were not enough, wordings flashed across the screen: _The first set of photos were taken two weeks before the wedding was announced. The second set was taken a week before the wedding._

Caroline was already reduced to a weeping heap on the carpet as she failingly tried to convince the guests that were seated near to her that all of those featured on the screen were just fabricated tales that were meant to slander her and tarnish her good reputation. The more she tried to deny, the harsher the words thrown at her were. When almost everyone was directing vulgarities and colourful words at her, the screen rolled back up. Nobody even noticed.

"I … It wasn't me!" Caroline continued to plead, still not giving up. "It was all lies! I never did any of that! Please! Believe me!" She barely had no idea what she was doing: crying, pleading, begging and being hysterical all at the same time.

The TV stations were having a field day, so were the newspaper cameramen who kept on snapping photos of a helpless and broken Caroline Lobo on the carpet. This had to be the biggest scoop any of them could ever ask for. After today, it would be a challenge between them to decide which company would be the one to offer the best media coverage for this shocking event.

Tea looked on worriedly at the commotion in the middle of the ballroom. She got on her chair and saw Mischa and her gang smirking away at the corner of the ballroom. She bit her lip, and threw another glance at Caroline. Tea pulled out her handphone and sent Mischa a quick SMS: _Aren't you guys going a little bit too far?_

The reply came just as swiftly: _Tea, it's payback. It is supposed to be overboard._

Tea sighed in frustration. She shifted her eyes over to Seto. He remained unmoving at the front, but she could see the shocked look on his face as he watched the event unfold in front of him. Was he not aware of how things would turn out as well? She was just about to dial his number when she saw him stride forward, removing his dinner jacket. Tea caught the horrified look on Mischa and her gang's face as they watched her employer weave his way through the crowd and towards Caroline.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" He roared. Everyone fell silent, and slowly backed away. He dropped his jacket over Caroline's shoulders without touching her. However, he bent down and murmured to her, "I want you to get out of this place now. And effectively, out of my life. I never want to see or hear from you again, do you get me?"

"Seto…" she whimpered.

"And go get treatment," He added on harshly. He was careful to not look as if he was threatening her. "I'm giving you five seconds to get the hell out of here, twenty-four hours to get lost from Japan and never come back. Otherwise, you know I have all the necessary information to leak, and let me tell you, I have much more information about you than what was shown on the screen. Is that clear?"

Caroline nodded numbly. Pulling his jacket tighter around her body, she slipped out of her heels and made a mad dash for the door. She kept her head down and pushed away any insistent reporters on her way.

Seto watched her disappear from sight. Then he turned coldly to all the press gathered around him and demanded, "Nobody airs or prints anything that happened within these four walls! Do it and I'll find a way to ruin your company!"

With that, he turned on his heels and made his way out of the ballroom, without so much of a glance towards Mischa, her gang or even Tea. Meanwhile, the rest of them except Tea gave him a withering look. Tea was the only one who smiled watching him go.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: hey guys! i am so pleased you all enjoyed the wedding scene! haha. and i understand if you guys felt bad for caroline somehow, because after i finished that one, i fel so bad for caroline that i ended up writing this chapter to provide another dimension to her character. y'know, cos caroline's just a **, she's not an evil entity and with that level of humiliation she endured, she's bound to wake up and smell the coffee. so that would explain why i find this chapter kind of weird, although this might be the second last chapter. i'm thinking there might be quite a few OOC scenes, even. especially for caroline and seto. so in my honest opinion, yes, i'm not entirely confident of this chapter. or maybe i just want it to be as perfect as possible since a second last chapter [probably] is crucial.**

**anyway, i shall still leave you guys to judge, because you are the readers! and i'll be open to any sort of comments, because that will really help me a longgg way... [and fika1603 crosses her fingers]**

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As the elevator door closed, he reached out a finger to jab the button for the ground floor of the hotel, then hesitated. For some reason, he raised his finger all the way to the button to the 12th storey and chose that. The lift proceeded up swiftly, and soon Seto found himself walking through the corridors of the 12th storey. He came to the second last room at the end and knocked softly.

"Carol?" He called out.

He heard a loud sniffle before her choked voice floated through the door, "I'm leaving. I'm packing."

Seto sighed and pulled out the extra set of key card that she had given to him. He slid it through to unlock the door and stepped in, closing the door behind him. Caroline was lying; she was nowhere near packing. She sat crumpled on the floor, her face hidden in his jacket as she cried. When she did look up, her hair was disheveled despite her waterproof makeup staying put. Seto carefully neared her and knelt beside her.

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving," Caroline repeated as she struggled to get up. "Don't worry. I won't bother you anymore. I'm leaving."

Unthinkingly, Seto placed a hand on her arm, and she sat back down. Seeing her in this condition, it was like seeing how she was when she begged him to take her away from her house three years back. He had obliged and had his limo pull up outside her manor; Caroline had dashed out of her house into his limo in the same broken condition.

Seto smoothened her hair out with his free hand. "Carol…" He spoke softly, and as he did so, memories and emotions from years passed coursed back through him.

Three years ago Seto had ordered his chauffeur to head on back to the Kaiba Mansion on his own while he took the limo with Caroline in it to the edge of town. He had parked it there, then found out why she insisted to flee from her home. That was when he discovered that despite growing up in luxury all those years, she had never once tasted what it felt like to be cared for. Her mother collapsed suddenly in front of her when she was five while they were at the park, and Caroline was too young and naïve to know that her mother could have been saved if she was given her medication which was kept in her handbag. Her father never stopped blaming her for his wife's death, and the fact that she grew up to resemble her mother physically worsened the situation. Caroline could not recall how many times her father had bluntly put it across to his guests that she killed his wife.

Seto had been outraged upon hearing that, but despite himself back then, he felt the sudden urge to offer her at least a sliver of hope that there was someone out there who would care for her although he was well aware the urge did not arise from love. Strangely enough, he felt the same way currently seeing her in the same broken condition. Maybe that was why he now ran his hands through her hair like he did back then, why he now tilted her head back slightly and kissed her full on the mouth like he did back then, and why he leaned in onto her like he did back then…

XO XO XO XO

"Seto, stop," Caroline's voice was faint as she gently pushed him away.

"Wh – what?" He looked down at her, dazed.

"Don't make the same mistake twice," She murmured as she slid out from his hold. One hand gripped her wrist, but she shook it off. "Don't. Please." At his still confused look, she smiled sadly and continued quietly, "I know you regretted that first time now. I don't want you to regret it again if we …" Her voice rose a notch as she spoke again, "Think of Tea, Seto!"

Seto suddenly snapped out of it. He remained quiet as he sat up. He watched her quietly as she sat at the end of the bed, her back towards him. He felt a sharp stab of guilt in his guts – so that incident in the limo had meant something to her. He swallowed hard. Again, it was his fault. Did Caroline turn out to be the way she was now because she was already scarred from her childhood, or did his false promises destroyed her?

"Carol, I'm …" Seto struggled to say the next word. "Sorry. For … what happened in the past."

"I'm sorry that I believed too much what you said then," Caroline spoke, still not turning around to look at him. "Maybe… it was a huge mistake on both our parts. We shouldn't have done what we did in the limo. It… altered my life."

From the way her voice broke, Seto knew she was either crying or trying not to, and he knew too that there was more to it than what she was telling him. He sidled up beside her and looked sharply at her as he asked hoarsely, "What are you hiding from me, Carol?"

Caroline said nothing, but when Seto saw for sure that she was crying, his exasperation intensified. He demanded again, "Tell me, Carol! What have you been hiding from me?"

"Af – after that incident, I … I discovered something," Caroline sobbed as she stepped away from the bed so she was standing across him. With every sentence, she sounded more hysterical. "I tried to call you! I tried so hard to get to you, but you turned down all my calls. I knew you were busy then because you had just taken over your company. But I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know where to go! I … I wanted to keep it. But when my father founded out, I … I had no choice but to agree to the abortion or risk being thrown out on the streets."

Seto almost fell over the bed in shock. The entire story was like a sucker punch that hit his conscience hard. He simply stared at Caroline. She was crying uncontrollably where she stood. Seto was unsure how to react. He wanted to cry, he wanted to dismiss all of this as rubbish. He wanted to disbelieve her, but there was no way she could fake that story seeing the way she was now.

"I … I could have been a … father?" He echoed disbelievingly again.

Even through her tears, Caroline managed a bitter laugh. "Wouldn't you have asked me to do the same thing as my father back then? Why would you want a child with a woman that you never loved?"

"Carol…" Seto tried hard to deny her accusation, but he knew it was all true. He knew that was precisely what he would do if she told him those years ago.

Caroline bit her lip and said in a low voice, "It's alright, Seto." She proceeded to the closet and took out her clothes before dumping them into her trunk. "I have less than twenty-three hours to leave the country. I would appreciate it if you get out of my room."

There was no mistaking the remorse in his voice. "Caroline, I'm so sorry. If you had told me, I … I would have carried on with the wedding."

"No, I'm sorry for trying to force myself into your life. I should have known and realized I never mattered to you." She gave him a false smile as she took her trunk with her. "I did love you, but all I really wanted for the wedding was revenge. But turns out the game was on me." Caroline took a deep breath. "I'm leaving. Goodbye, Seto Kaiba. But I want you to know, those photos aren't what they seem to be. I swear upon our child, you're the only one I had ever been with."

Seto just watched with fierce sorrow as she closed the door behind her. Was he that evil to destroy the lives of people he had falsely caused for them to count on him? He finally realized the answer to his earlier rhetorical question regarding Caroline.

XO XO XO XO

"You cut my pay by more than half?!" Mischa thundered in his office as she glared at her employer.

It was a day after the 'wedding', and everyone's life had reverted to normal. At least, for most of them. Seto had called Mischa down to his office to hand her her paycheck, and she was astounded by its amount: a mere one and a half thousand dollars.

"I only pay you what I deem fit," Seto replied coldly. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have paid you a single cent."

Mischa frowned at him. "But why?"

"A woman humiliating another woman in front of the entire nation doesn't deserve that much money." From the spookily calm tone of his voice, Mischa could tell that her employer was just waiting for the fuse for him to blow up. "But you've done a lot to help me, and I appreciate it, Mis."

Mischa looked on at him in surprise. Didn't he hate Caroline as much as she did? Seto caught her gaze and muttered, "You don't know her like I know her, Mis. And nobody knows what I know." She peered at him expectantly, and he sighed, "I'm not telling you, Mis."

"Oo-kay," Mischa shrugged, backing away slowly. "I respect your decision, Mr Boss. And I'm really sorry if I went overboard." She paused. "Oh yes, have you contacted Tea?"

"I'm not going to," Seto replied plainly. "I don't want to."

Mischa narrowed her eyes worriedly at him, but exited anyway. Seto exhaled loudly. It was a lie; he could not bring himself to contact her. Everytime he picked the phone up to dial her number, Caroline's face flitted back into his mind and the guilt would engulf him again. Tea was a nice person, the sort of girl guys would bring home to meet their parents. Caroline's revelation had just reconfirmed people's assumption of him as a vile character. There was no way Tea deserved a person like him. She deserved someone much better.

XO XO XO XO

Tea turned the envelope over in her hands. What did Caroline mean when she said that Tea and Seto should open it together? She cast her mind to the blonde's sudden visit to her house last night. Tea was just about to turn in for the night when the doorbell rang. She had opened the door to see who it was, and was surprised to see a plainly dressed Caroline Lobo at her doorstep. Her basic pink t-shirt and jeans were a far cry from the classy dresses and skirts she always wore.

"_Can I … can I come in?" Caroline asked unsurely._

"_Sure …" Tea let her in despite wondering what in the world she was doing at her house. She waved Caroline over to the living room, and the blonde promptly took a seat. Tea was about to head over to the kitchen to get her guest a drink, but Caroline stopped her._

"_It's okay, Tea," Caroline spoke quietly. "Please. Just have a seat. I don't have much time left. My plane will be leaving soon." At Tea's raised eyebrow, she smiled slightly. "Yes. I'm leaving Japan for good. So, please."_

_That only served to make Tea more uneasy. What exactly was the woman playing at? However, she took a seat across Caroline and awaited the latter's explanation. As she did so, she noticed that Caroline's face was sunken and lifeless. Where was her air of haughtiness and arrogance?_

_Caroline pulled out an envelope from her bag and placed it on the coffee table. "I … this is for Seto. But I want to pass it to you first. After all, you are more than just a part of his life."_

"_What's this?" Tea picked the envelope up._

_The blonde smiled again, but this time there was a tinge of sadness in it. "Something that I never thought I should let Seto know about. Tea, I'm… I'm sorry if I had wronged you." Caroline studied Tea's features carefully. "I … I wish I could tell you certain things, but I … I can't bring myself to say it all out again. That's why I left you this." She pulled out a folded note and pressed it into Tea's hand._

Tea was well aware of the word 'again' in her sentence. That meant she had spilled about whatever she was hiding before to someone. But she chose to remain silent about it. After all, if her guess was right, the note would contain all the answers to her questions. Apparently, that was all Caroline had to talk to her about, so Tea walked her to the door. Before she left, Caroline threw a quick glance at Tea and said quietly with a small smile, "Take care of Seto."

_That very same night, Tea curled up in her bed and read the note that Caroline had passed to her. No wonder Caroline was so reluctant to verbally share about it. By the time she reached the end of Caroline's story, Tea was furiously wiping tears off her face. She wanted so much to slap Seto right there and then, but the last line of the letter cooled her almost instantly: Please Tea, don't be angry or blame Seto about this matter. I beg you, Tea, don't ever put the blame on him._

The taxi pulled up outside Kaiba Corporation HQ. Tea quickly paid the fare and got out of the taxi. She clutched the envelope tighter in her hand. Whatever its contents, she and Seto would discover and face it together.

XO XO XO XO

Although Mischa had exited the office, she had not technically left the floor yet. Rather, she was seated on the empty seat next to Misa. The secretary was just about done with her work. In fact, she quickly finished it because having an uncomfortable-looking Mischa next to her invited a gossip session.

Meanwhile, Mischa was ruminating about what her employer had told her earlier. 'A woman humiliating another woman in front of the entire nation doesn't deserve that much money. You don't know her like I know her, Mis. And nobody knows what I know.' What did he mean by that?

_Was I too overboard handling Caroline?_ She wondered. She thought back to what had happened during the wedding reception. For some reason, Mischa put herself in Caroline's place. How would she feel if her dress was ripped along the way to exchange her vows, then stopped in her tracks because someone aired all her dirty laundry?

She had witnessed for herself how hysterical Caroline had been, how she had cried and how she had pleaded with the crowd. Back then, Mischa had enjoyed every sadistic minute. Right now, she felt as if a lead ball had dropped in her gut. Mischa failed to quell her guilt. Caroline must have been so humiliated.

Mischa held out her paycheck and made her decision: she tore it. Misa looked at her quizzically and asked, "Why did you tear that?"

"Because I can't accept it," Mischa replied, standing up and heading for the French doors. "Boss was right."

Just then, her handphone rang and Mischa answered it frowningly. "Yes?"

Syam's terrified voice spoke through the receiver. Mischa blanched; it was his voice when he did a grave mistake. "Mis, I … I got the information about the pictures wrong. It wasn't … it wasn't an affair per se."

"WHAT?" Mischa shouted into the phone. They carried out the plan with the wrong information? She told him harshly as she pushed the doors open, "I want you to tell me everything in front of my boss. I'll put you on loudspeaker so you can tell it all!"

Seto looked up at the mention of his position. As if on cue, Mischa slammed her phone on his desk and promptly pressed the loudspeaker button. "Babble!" she ordered.

"I'm so sorry, Mis! My informer got the information all wrong! Those shots of Caroline with that man was purely for a fashion photo shoot. A jeans fashion line hired her and the guy as models and the photographer wanted to convey a sexy photo, so they had to do that provocative pose. But the advertising firm's creative director turned it down and so those photos were discarded and so it ended up in my informer's hands. I'm so so so terribly sorry, Mis!"

Mischa was about to yell at him, but Seto already beat her to it. As he rose to his full height, his body shook with uncontrollable rage as he picked the phone up and hollered into it, "ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU SHAMED CAROLINE WITH FALSE PHOTOS?"

Mischa could almost picture Syam wincing at the other end. "It wasn't exactly like that …"

It was Mischa's turn to yell at him, "Syam! I thought I told you, check and recheck and recheck and RECHECK! I didn't want any information mistake!"

"YOU STRIPPED HER OF HER PRIDE WITH FALSE PHOTOS!" Seto had grabbed the phone back again, and he sounded more unforgiving than before. Before Mischa could reach out to take the phone back from him, he already hurled it onto the table. Mischa could only flinch as her handphone shattered.

Seto was mad beyond belief. He hastily grabbed his coat and stormed towards the door. He was about to bang it open when the doors opened to reveal Tea at the doorway. Seto steeled himself to ignore her widened cerulean eyes and pushed his way past her, but she called out "Seto, wait!" and ran after him. She waved an envelope in his face.

"What's this?" He asked hurriedly.

"It's from Caroline," Tea could see his attention immediately on her the moment she said the name. As much as she did not want to, she felt a sharp pang of jealousy. Did Seto care about Caroline more than she thought? "She wanted the both of us to open it together."

"Give it to me," Seto snatched it out of her hands and tore open the envelope. He fished out a folded note, and quickly scanned it. He held it low, so Tea could peek at it too:

_Here's the address of our son's grave. Father disallowed me to name him. I now leave it up to you and Tea if the both of you want to name him, or even if the two of you want to visit him regularly. But I'm begging you, please at least visit him just once so he knows that he has a father._

I wish the both of you all the best for your future. I'm sorry I tried to ruin your happiness for my selfish reasons. Seto, my lawyer will see to it that I'll return my KaibaCorp shares to the original investors, and my publicist will see to it that all my allegations about you are cleared. I'll undo all my mistakes so that I can be erased from your life as requested.

The note slipped out of his hands, and he slowly sank to his knees. He would have had a son? He would have had an heir? Unexpectedly, tears started to stream down his face, but luckily Tea had cradled his head in her hands so his face was cast downwards. It was more obvious to Misa and Mischa that Tea was crying, and the fact that her tears dropped on the same surface as Seto's hid the fact that the CEO was in tears.

"I've wronged her so much, Ti," Seto whispered. "I deserved what she did to me. The takeover of my company, the allegations… I deserved to be at the receiving end of her vengeance spree, Tea. She had more rights to hate me than anyone else. I deserve to be hated by her."

"Don't say that," Tea pleaded. "You didn't know."

"I didn't _want_ to know. I turned down her calls when she was trying to tell me about it."

Tea cupped his face gently, but there was firmness in her voice as she said, "Seto, think about it. The both of you were just sixteen then, barely adult. How were the both of you like back then? What would you have done? Would the both of you have been good parents then?"

"N-No," Seto replied hoarsely. "Caroline was right. The … the child wouldn't have been born even if she told me back then."

"Then why are you blaming yourself for it?" Tea pressed on. "Seto, Caroline's revenge on you wasn't because of the child. Her revenge on you was because she knew that although she was the first girl in your life, you never loved her. She admitted to it in the letter she gave me. She was just jealous, Seto."

Seto sighed. "Tea …"

She simply smiled as she pulled him closer for a reassuring hug. Seto immediately relaxed in it. "I won't leave you, Seto. I love you, regardless of your past or whatever you had done, because I know that that's not really you. You've changed a lot since then, and learnt a lot since then. That's why I'll never hate you for your past." She made a face. "This sounds weird. I'm telling this to a guy who believes more in the future than the past."

Seto chuckled soundlessly before he murmured, "Cover for me while I dry my eyes."

Tea laughed but did so anyway. Once he was certain he looked normal enough, they pulled apart from their embrace and exchanged small smiles. However, the smiles were instantaneously wiped off their faces when they saw Mischa and Misa huddled at the secretary's desk, intently listening to a phone call.

When the receiver was put down, Seto demanded, as sarcastic as ever, "What happened now? Pizza delivery boy detained by security?"

Misa shook her head. If she was in a normal mood, she would have retorted that that event happened last Wednesday. But as she looked up to meet her employer's eyes now, her voice was grave, "News just came in. A plane heading to Berlin had to make an emergency landing in the middle of the ocean. Authorities are saying that they only have fifteen minutes to get as many passengers out because beyond that timeframe, none of them would be able to survive."

"And why does it matter to us?"

Mischa answered him gravely, "Because Caroline's in it."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: thanks a lot y'all! i'm so glad you guys liked the previous chapter! (phewww)**

**anyway, i think all of us had had enough about caroline for the past few chapters. so in this chapter, caroline is not technically in the story, and we go back to the actual couple in this fic. and a cameo by the little bro!**

**this isn't the last chapter, though. so there will be updates! but there's no doubt that this fic is ending soon.**

**okay, i shall let you guys carry on with the fic. take it away!**

* * *

After the announcement, all three of them congregated in his office. As much as Misa wanted to join them, she was ordered to remain at her desk and to keep any other people out from the office. She had sulked, but obliged.

Seto had resorted to going back to his work while Tea and Mischa lounged about at the seats in his office. He had an impressive collection of books, but none of them were interesting enough to them. In the end, Tea and Mischa just helped themselves to the coffee while idly chatting away in a low voice out of Seto's earshot.

"I know I've worked with him for so long," Mischa whispered, glancing over at the CEO who was starting to be oblivious about anything else in his office except his work. "But I still get the creeps when he shows that heck care attitude despite just getting bad news."

Tea peered at her boyfriend and cracked a smile. "You get the creeps, I think it's funny how he can compartmentalize his emotions so easily. Sometimes I think the characteristics of all this techno-gizmo he's surrounded with rubbed off on him."

"Yeah, but he's not a robot," Mischa insisted, reaching out to refill her coffee. "You'd think he'd be at least concerned about Carol."

"He is," Tea murmured in reply, her eyes focused on Seto. "That's why he's launched into work like mad." At Mischa's 'huh?' look, Tea relaxed into a wide smile as she continued to look on adoringly at her boyfriend. "Work's the best form of distraction for him. Other people go for sports or movies, but not him."

Mischa sighed. "Maybe you should get him to play Tetris. I read somewhere that if you played Tetris right after a distressful event, the memory would be locked away somewhere in your head and it'll be hard for you to find it again." She frowned as she reconsidered her words. "Wait, what happens if you hate Tetris? Won't it just make things worse?"

"Maybe it's for people who don't mind it?" Tea suggested. "But I think most people like it, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"I do," Mischa retorted darkly. "I hate the game. I always lose. Maybe I should go suggest to these scientists to do research on war games. Maybe all those strategizing help to better your brain functions. Then we have more reasons to say that computer games are good for your health."

Tea half-smiled as she offered a rejoinder. "Except for your eyes." Mischa's excited face drooped and Tea had to laugh. "But apparently that doesn't seem to ring true for everyone, right Se –"

Her words trailed off when she saw her boyfriend asleep in his chair. Mischa had to slap herself to prevent her laughter from breaking out. Tea shot her a half-amused, half-warning look as she went up to him. She picked up his coat that he had thrown aside and draped it over him carefully.

_He must be exhausted with all these going-ons,_ she mused as she unwittingly brushed back his hair from his forehead and kissed it. Seto did not even stir. Tea bit back a laugh. _Yups, he must be definitely beat to not notice that._

From the corner of her eyes she caught sight of Mischa waving at her and signaling that she would be leaving. Tea nodded and waved her goodbye as well. Then she turned back to her sleeping boyfriend and placed a hand on his head.

"Let's just hope you don't wake up and grumble about the time you wasted on sleeping," Tea whispered, smiling at the thought.

_And let's just hope you're having nothing but nice dreams_, she added on silently.

XO XO XO XO

Misa looked up from the files on her desk when she saw Tea walk out of the office. Tea caught her gaze and smiled, nearing her desk. She inclined her head towards the phone and asked, "Any updates?"

Misa looked doubtful. "If you mean about Caroline, not … exactly. The authorities said that they rescued all found passengers."

"What do you mean, all found passengers?"

"One of them is missing," Misa winced as she said it. But she was quick to add, "But the list of names haven't been released yet, so maybe Caroline was already saved. Y'know."

Tea squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. I won't tell Seto yet. After all, nothing's confirmed."

_Please let Caroline be safe,_ she prayed hard in her heart. She flopped herself on the empty seat next to Misa and let out a huge sigh. Now that Seto had taken a short trip to la-la land, maybe she should too. The tense situation earlier on was enough to wear anyone out. She was just about to close her eyes when the elevator doors opened and Mokuba emerged, struggling with his backpack. Tea immediately rose from her seat to receive him.

"Tea!" Mokuba practically yelled in delight as he ran over to hug her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to see your brother," She explained, bearing in mind to keep the actual events from Mokuba's knowledge. There was no need for the little guy to know what his brother did all those years. Let Mokuba always think of Seto in the positive light. "At first it was supposed to be a short while, but yeah… I ran into Mischa so you know… girl chat and all."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "I know all about this girl chat stuffs. You say five minutes, it'll end up as five hours." He looked at Misa slyly. "Right, Misa?"

The secretary scowled at him and dived back into her work. Tea and Mokuba exchanged laughs as they walked together to the French doors. Tea put a finger to her lips as she pushed the door open quietly. With the other hand, she pointed to Seto's sleeping form, and Mokuba grinned as he nodded. They were just about to tiptoe into the office when suddenly Seto rolled over on his seat and crashed to the ground. Tea and Mokuba winced as they heard the CEO blabber out a string of vulgarities. However, once he shut up, they hurried over to his side.

His first reaction was to hold out his hand to stop them and said cautiously, "Please tell me the both of you are not Portuguese-man-of-wars in disguise."

Tea and Mokuba exchanged looks. Tea sighed as she helped Seto up, "No, Seto. It's me, Tea, and this is Mokuba. We're homo-sapiens through and through." She narrowed her eyes at him in worry. "Seto, are you okay?"

"Yeah," He replied groggily as he got up to sit back on his chair. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Mokuba grinned at his brother's reply. "Have you been watching Spongebob on the sly, Big Brother?"

Seto shot him an evil look and replied crossly, "Mokuba, I don't watch cartoons."

"Then why are you dreaming of jellyfishes?" His brother asked pointedly, crossing his arms and staring back at his brother.

"I didn't dream about jellyfishes, I dreamt about Portuguese-man-of-wars," Seto insisted through gritted teeth. "And I wasn't watching Spongebob, Mokuba. I was working on Groering's project."

Mokuba took a peek at his brother's computer and laughed. "But Seto, it is on Spongebob."

"Whatever," his brother said gruffly, itching to change the subject. He glanced up to look at his girlfriend who was biting back a laugh as she witnessed their exchange. "I thought you've left."

"And let you be here all alone?" Tea teased. "I don't think so."

Despite himself, Seto smiled appreciatively at her. Suddenly, they heard someone clearing his throat loudly. They looked down to see Mokuba with a smirk. He eyed them accusingly and said, "Okay, 'fess up. How long have you two been together and not telling me?"

Tea could feel her face heating up, but Seto retained his cool. "How was school?"

Mokuba was not buying it. "I'm not saying anything until you two confess."

Seto sighed exasperatedly as he reached one hand to hold Tea's. "Fine. We're together. Since a month plus back. Happy?"

Mokuba beamed. "There? That isn't so hard, is it?" He peered to look at the computer screen again and asked a relevant question, "What are you working on, anyway Big Brother? Is the video game Groering wanted us to do related to Spongebob?"

His brother shuffled uncomfortably. "Something like that, I heard, if I got all the information during the briefing correct." He glared at Mokuba. "Don't laugh at me now. It's good money. i never knew a sponge could rake in that much profit."

"I'm not," his brother reassured him. "Ohh! So that's why you needed my help! Cos you have absolutely no idea how to go about doing it."

Seto glared at him. This time round, a giggle escaped from Tea's lips as she watched the two siblings. "I think I'd better leave you two businessmen to talk about business," she interjected, preparing to leave, but Mokuba stopped her.

"No, no! I'm the one who has to leave! I have an essay to complete by tomorrow, and the topic is such a dud!" He made a face. "Revenge. I mean, what am I supposed to write about?"

Seto's expression changed at the mention of the essay title. Tea quickly smiled at Mokuba and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, that's kind of true. But I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a story on it."

Mokuba looked wistful at her reply. "You're right. Anyway, guess I'd better leave now! You two have fun, okay!" He quickly amended his words. "But not too much. Bye!"

After the door closed behind Mokuba, Tea turned to Seto. The CEO had lost any sense of candidness and was now looking troubled. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Seto, let it go."

"It's not about that, Ti," He remarked.

"She'll be fine," Tea said as reassuringly as possible. "I know she will be. Trust me."

Without warning, Seto got up and pulled her into a hug. Tea was too startled to hug back at first, but she did eventually. As she did, he murmured to her, "Thank you for standing by me all this time, Tea. Thank you for believing in me."

"Uhh… it's okay," Tea patted his back gently, unsure about his sudden outburst. Almost as instantly as they embraced, they pulled apart. Tea did not take offence; Seto was not exactly the physical sort of person. She looked into his eyes and smiled, "Why won't you trust me, Seto? Everything will be alright."

_And everyone says that bullshit everytime things are not alright,_ Seto added on silently in his head. However, he did lock gaze with his girlfriend and asked bluntly, "Am I that bad a person, Tea?"

"What are you talking about, Seto?"

"Answer me," He said again, his voice clipped. Tea shuffled uneasily. She was not liking where this conversation was heading. How many times had she told him? "And I want an honest answer. Am I that bad a human being, Tea?"

Tea sighed. Despite the less than happy atmosphere in the office right now, she attempted to keep things light. "You know, I think for your New Year's resolutions next time, I'd want to add one for you: Stop blaming myself for everything."

Seto pushed her hand away. "You haven't answered my question."

"I'm not going to answer that."

"Why? Because it's true?" Seto retorted scathingly.

His girlfriend resisted the urge to launch into a verbal rampage. What exactly did the guy want? If she said no, he would be skeptical of her answer and continue to urge her with the same question. If she said yes, he would be less accepting of it.

_Clearly, I need patience – a lot of it – to be with this guy,_ she grumbled inwardly as she thought of a suitable and passable answer to his accusation. "No, because you'll just end up blaming yourself for everything again. Seto, not everything that happens in this world is your fault. If it is, then every single earthquake and volcano eruption would have been caused by you."

"But so far, what happened to Carol was my fault, wasn't it?" Seto was still stubbornly holding on to the notion that Caroline's plight was due to him. "If I hadn't told her to get lost from Japan, maybe she wouldn't have been in that plane, and maybe she wouldn't be caught in that wreck. And if I had kept to my promise to her back then, maybe she wouldn't have ended up like this."

Tea gritted her teeth and spoke as calmly as possible, "Seto? Can I make a request?"

"What?"

"Can I slap you for still blaming yourself for that?" Tea asked sweetly. However, one hand was already rigid by her side, prepared to be swung at his face the moment he gave the green light.

Seto eyed her coolly. "Tea, I'm not joking."

"I'm not either," She replied exasperatedly. "I'm serious. I'm serious when I say you shouldn't be blaming yourself for whatever happened. I'm serious when I say that you're being stupid if you're trying to punish yourself for things that you know you didn't exactly do. I mean, you were you, but just not you now, you know?" Seto's face was an obvious mask of confusion. Tea exhaled loudly. "Okay, never mind. Point is, you are not at fault. And you're not evil. If you're evil you wouldn't be beating yourself up with guilt like this."

"Ti…"

"No, hear me out. I don't like it when you blame yourself, because it makes me feel really bad. Like, I can't do anything to make you feel better, and that hurts. That hurts because I'm there and I want to take away all that sadness but you're not letting me." She looked at him pleadingly. "Seto, you're not alone. You have people around you who care for you. Me. Your brother. Mischa. Maybe you can say that Mischa's an employee so she needs to have a certain distance from you, that's fine. But me and Mokuba? Don't push us away, Seto."

He just stared unblinking at her. If he was expressionless, Tea would have taken it to be that she had wasted her breath and energy. But there was no doubting the surprise in his blue eyes, so she knew he must have heard every single word said and digesting them. Wordlessly, he sank back into his chair.

"I didn't mean to treat you guys like that," He spoke evenly. Tea took it as an apology. "But I keep feeling that I don't have a clear conscience. I don't like to feel remorseful, but that's what I'm feeling now."

Tea seated herself on his desk across him and took his hand. "Seto, the past can't be altered. All we can try to do is to… make the future better than the past. And I'll be with you in every step of the way."

Seto started to smile, then stopped as he eyed her suspiciously. "Yugi said something like that once, didn't he?"

"He did?" Tea decided to play dumb. "But not the exact words right?"

He shrugged. "Whatever." Then he looked at her sincerely, "Are you going to slap me if I say thank you again?"

Just then, the doors to his office burst open. Seto released his hand from Tea's hold and regarded his secretary with a death stare. "I really need to put a sign where it says: Knock before you enter."

Misa was in no mood to entertain her employer's sarcasm. "Mr Kaiba, there has just been updates about the plane. The authorities have released the list of all passengers aboard the plane, and the names of survivors, which is practically all of them. Even the missing passenger was found in the toilet.

"However, there's a slight glitch. Although a lot of people said that they saw Caroline board the plane, her name wasn't on either list."

The three of them exchanged looks, each of them unsure how to react. Was Caroline really on that plane at all?


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: hey guys! thank you for all the reviews and support all this while! i love you all from the deepest corner of my heart! and as much as i didn't want to, i have more than enough reasons to believe that this is going to be the second last chapter. so Chapter 27 (uploaded soon, i hope) will mark the end of this fic.**

**anw, this chap is a continuation of the entire 'Caroline isn't in the plane?' saga. or rather, it unravels a little bit about it. is caroline really a ** or is she actually somewhat nice? you guys decide. (but i still don't like her. haha!)**

**enjoy this chap yea!**

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Seto immediately punched the button on his desk phone to reach Roland and barked, "Roland! I want you in the office." As he disconnected the call and sank back into his seat, he muttered, "I knew there was something fishy. I never believed Caroline fully from the start."

_Actually, you did_, Tea disagreed in her head. Outwardly, she maintained a serious demeanor as she wondered out loud, "If Caroline wasn't in the plane, then where is she? But how come people said that they saw her board the plane?"

Her boyfriend growled as he pounced onto his computer's keyboard, furiously typing away. "That's what I intend to find out," he growled as his eyes skimmed the contents flashed on the monitor. Just then, Roland burst into the room. Seto promptly looked up and handed him a section torn out from the letter that he had received from Tea hours earlier. "I want you to head for this address. Find out for me if there really is an unmarked grave. And if there is one, I want you to find out whose grave it is."

"Will do, Mr Kaiba," Roland nodded. "Any time limit?"

Seto thought for a while before dismissing his right-handman with a wave. "As soon as possible. But don't take all day. Take a few men with you, just in case."

Roland seemed surprised by his employer's request, but said nothing. Instead, he quickly bowed and bolted out of the office. Although he said as soon as possible, Roland knew he would be more than pissed if he took more than two hours.

The moment Roland exited the office, Tea glanced over to Seto. "You gave him the address of your son's grave?" Misa had left the office earlier on after she told Seto about the plane wreck updates, so it was safe to talk about the contents of the letter.

Seto shrugged. "Just to confirm things." He looked away for a while before adding on softly, "And maybe start thinking of what to name him. I can't believe Lobo didn't let him be named."

_Is this what parental love really is? Even when Seto had never knew of the existence of his son until recently, he already sounds as if he loved him,_ Tea thought to herself as she looked at him sadly_. I really hope Caroline wasn't lying about his son, otherwise …_

She shook her head, quickly ending off her thoughts. It would not help improve the situation if Seto caught her spacing out. Luckily, he was intent on whatever he was reading on the monitor to not notice her. She sidled up to him, "What you looking for?"

His words spilled out as a mutter, "Her personal data. All her details." He let out a short laugh. "I haven't hacked into databases for quite some time. The last time that I did was Pegasus's." His eyes narrowed as he scrolled down before he leant back into his seat looking crossed. "Take a look at that."

Tea did as told, and her eyes widened. "She possesses three different passports under three different names?" She summarized the contents. Shock was evident both in her voice and on her face.

"And one of them is illegally obtained," Seto added on. From the hard tone in the way he spoke, he was duly pissed. "So that means although she can 'legally' enter a country, she isn't officially registered. That means that if she decides to pull a Houdini, there's a slim chance of tracing her."

Tea frowned at him. "Are you saying that she's purposefully doing that so that you can't find her?"

Seto scowled. "Only if she's up to something that she knows I'll be mad at her for."

"Maybe she really wants to… y'know, start life afresh?" Tea was not so ready to agree to Seto's theory. "Especially after everything she went through."

Her boyfriend snorted. "Tea, don't be so naïve. I've known Caroline for a long time, perhaps better than anyone else so I know how she is inside out." Tea winced at the last bit, but Seto was oblivious to it. "She would never go into hiding unless she knows that there is a possibility her life would be affected by something."

She frowned deeper. "Are you saying she's lying to you about all this and afraid that you'll run after her?"

Seto seemed pensive for a while. "For some reason, I hope she's not and you're right about her wanting to start life anew." He shrugged. "But let's wait for Roland's call. Probably that should settle things out."

_Let's hope so,_ he added on silently, looking out of his office window. _Caroline, wherever you are, I hope you're not lying to me. At least, not about our son._

XO XO XO XO

"Where are you headed to, ma'am?" The taxi driver called out in Italian from over his shoulder.

She tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, thought for a while before confidently announcing in fluent Italian, "The nearest 5-star that you could get to. I don't really mind which one."

The taxi driver, a man in his late forties, peered at his passengers from his rearview mirror. "Will the Grand Hotel Et De Milan be alright with you, ma'am?"

The lady in the back seat smiled. "That would do," she replied softly as she looked down at the sleeping figure of a three-year-old boy beside her. "The nearer the better. I think my son is already exhausted from the airplane ride."

The taxi driver smiled back, shook his head and carefully maneuvered his taxi along the busy Milan streets. Possibly here to meet up with her husband, he mused about his passenger. Possibly a businessman, or even an ambassador, seeing the way she thought nothing of the Grand Hotel.

"You have a very handsome son," He remarked.

The lady smiled happily as she caressed her son's head. "Thank you," She replied sincerely, the look of adoration so blatant on her face as she regarded her son. "I wish he takes after me more. He's only got my hair."

"But having him take after his father shouldn't be too bad, eh?"

The smile on the lady's lips faltered as she spoke coldly, "Keep driving."

XO XO XO XO

"Tea, stop pacing. It's irritating my sight."

Tea shot an evil look at her boyfriend, but flopped down on the seat across him anyway. For the past two hours, Seto had been furiously trying to rack up as much information on Caroline and all her aliases while awaiting Roland's call. Tea hoped that the call would call soon, because Seto was being crankier by the minute.

"Found anything about her?" Tea asked hopefully.

Her boyfriend sighed as he gestured in frustration at his computer screen. "Other than the fact that she's Caroline Lobo with a Japanese passport, Donata Carzioli with an Italian passport and Cynthia Hawkins with a British passport, I have absolutely no other leads on her much more which one of the other two passports are fake." He thumped his desk in annoyance. "And where is Roland with that blasted report? How hard is it really to find an unmarked grave?" Just then, the phone rang and Seto grumbled as he picked it up, "What?"

"Mr Kaiba, we located the grave," came Roland's crisp report on the other end of the line. "And we asked around. Apparently it was recently laid out. We even checked the grass patch and that confirmed our suspicion."

Tea's eyes widened to that of glass saucers when Seto leapt out of his seat and yell out an enraged, "WHAT?!" He pulled the phone from his ear and continued to yell into it as he held the mouthpiece to his face, "I WANT YOU ALL TO EXCAVATE THE GRAVE NOW! DIG OUT WHATEVER IS INSIDE IT!" He punched another button on his phone and again shouted into it, "Misa! Prepare my helicopter!"

When he slammed the phone down, the sound resonated throughout the entire room. Seto had his hands at the edge of the table, gripping it tightly as he seethed and sought to cool his rage. Tea did not dare move from where she sat. Suddenly, he pushed himself away from the desk and pulled Tea by her arm towards the door.

"Mind explaining to me why you're suddenly Mr Hyde?" Tea tried hard not to wince in pain at his vice grip as she let herself be dragged out of the office and into the elevator to get to the rooftop of KaibaCorp HQ.

"Because. Someone. Lied. To. Me," He forced himself to explain through gritted teeth. "And I hate liars!"

The elevator doors opened and Seto strode out, pulling a stumbling Tea after him. As expected, the helicopter was already on and buzzing. In his rage, Seto ignored the entire idea of 'ladies first' and leapt into the helicopter and headed straight to the cockpit. Tea sighed as she clambered up.

As expected, Seto piloted the helicopter and even relegated his employees to the task of filling up the passenger seats. In spite of his anger, he managed decent control of the helicopter and soon they found themselves landing on an open field near the cemetery ground where his son was supposedly buried. Just as he was the first person to get onto the helicopter, he was the first person to get out. This time round though, with his anger slightly cooled, he did help Tea out.

Roland spotted his very angry employer skulking towards where he and his men were gathered. He barely could let a word out when his employer glared at him and snarled, "Where's the grave?"

"R-r-right here," Roland stammered, backing away to make way for Seto to stand directly before the grave.

His employer leaned over carefully and placed a hand on the plain tombstone and snorted, "This sort of cheap tombstone doesn't belong in a cemetery like this." He shifted his focus on Roland. "I told you all to excavate the grave. What did you find?"

"This," Roland pointed to a small casket beside the dug grave. He signaled to his men to open it, and they did. "It's, well, empty."

"I can see that!" Seto snapped. Beside him, Tea quickly placed a finger on his arm. Seto took a deep breath and calmed down slightly. "I want all of you to get back into the helicopter or whatever vehicles you came by in and get back to HQ."

"What about you, Mr Kaiba?"

"Leave a car behind for me," His employer replied absent-mindedly. His attention was no longer on his men. As he continued to stare at the empty grave, Roland and the rest of the men hurriedly left the area. Seto did not shift his stare until he heard the sound of the vehicles take off. Just to make sure there were only the two of them left, Seto asked Tea, "Is everyone gone?"

"Yes," She whispered.

For a fraction of a second, Seto remained still where he was. Then suddenly he was down on his knees, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Tea was quick to be by his side, throwing an arm around him and pulling him close to her. She bit her lip hard, forcing herself not to cry. Seto was usually strong in controlling his emotions; but when he was driven to be at his weakest now, she had to be the strong one.

"I really believed her, Ti," Seto spoke angrily through his tears (that he was well-aware of). "I really believed her when she said I had a son."

"Seto, it's –"

"No, it's not okay!" Seto roared, pushing her away and leaping to his feet. "She lied to me, Tea! She lied to me about something that has started to matter a lot to me!" He glared in another direction and fumed, "She's just out to get me. And she chose a damn fine way of doing it. She knows how much family meant to me." He let out a bitter laugh and applaused mockingly. "Brava, Caroline! Brava! You did a splendid job of making me look an utter fool!"

His sarcasm died out eventually as he continued, "Just when I was about to accept that there had been someone in my life of my own flesh and blood other than Mokuba, this had to happen." He shut his eyes tightly. "I was prepared to acknowledge his presence, and I was even prepared to try and think of a name for him. In fact, I already thought of a fitting one."

"What were you planning to name him, Seto?" Tea asked quietly. But for a man like him, she already knew.

XO XO XO XO

"Honey, come on, wake up," She said quietly as she shook her son in a bid to wake him up. "It's almost time for dinner."

The little blonde boy sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning at the same time. Once he was seventy-five percent awake, he blinked his azure eyes at his mother. "Mummy? Where are we?"

His mother sighed. "We're in Milan, love. Let's just say, we'll be staying here for quite some time."

"But I thought we'll be staying in Japan," he pouted. "You said I was going to have Daddy back."

_I thought we were, too,_ the thoughts crossed her mind, but she quickly erased it off and set about trying to convince the little squirt in front of her, "Seth, some things aren't meant for you to understand yet. Now why don't you change out? We'll go for some nice pasta tonight, alright?"

Seth obliged as his mother helped him out of his clothes and into a fresh new set of shirt and pants. "But Mummy, is it because Daddy doesn't want me?"

She pressed her eyes shut and sent a mental apology to her son: _Seth, forgive me for lying to you. But I have to let your father lead his own life. I don't want to tie him down with me when he could be with the person he loves._

"No, that's not the reason," the lady with an Italian alias of Donata Carzioli assured her son. "Daddy's … well, he's not the Daddy we're looking for, cos he doesn't want to stay with us and all. But I promise you, Seth, one day you're gonna get a Daddy, alright? And he'll send you to school and stuffs. Just not… well, that Daddy."

Seth beamed at her words. "Promise?"

She smiled back at him, and marveled painfully how alike he was to his father. "Yes, Seth. I promise. Now wait for me here while I go get changed, alright?"

As she hurried into the bathroom, she felt a sharp pang of guilt. Did she do the right thing lying to both Seto and Seth like this? She thought back to all that she had done to Seto. _I'm sorry I acted so drastically with you to get you, and I'm sorry I acted drastically again when I left you._

She drew a notepad and a pen from her jacket, and quickly composed something. Once she was done, she tore a few sheets out, stuffed them in her jacket and got dressed. Ten minutes later, before she headed out of the hotel lobby, she requested for an envelope, scribbled an address and put those sheet of papers in.

"Charge the postage to my hotel bill," she requested.

"Yes, ma'am," the receptionist nodded.

As Caroline/Donata took her son's hand and headed out onto the streets, she thought_, I'm sorry I did this, Seto. I just hope that letter will be enough to explain everything._


	27. Chapter 27: End

**A/N: here it is guys, the long-awaited finale!**

**thank you thank you thank you to everyone of you for all your support all this while! i treasure every single one of my readers, and i treasure every single review. and i am happy to know that you guys loved this fic and willing to support it all the way to the end. I love you all!**

**this is my parting gift to you all (for now), and i hope from the deepest corner of my heart that you guys will find this a fitting ending. thank you everyone!**

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Tea stifled a yawn. She and Seto had headed straight back to his office after the revelation at the cemetery, and she had spent the next few hours either comforting him or listening to him swearing to kill Caroline the next time he saw her. Although technically, the latter took more time. It was almost one in the morning now, and Seto showed no sign of tiredness. Rather, he had Misa send in a cup of coffee before she left at around seven. Apparently he intended to stay up.

Seto glanced over at her from his computer screen and said quietly, "Tea, if you're tired, don't force yourself. I don't want to see you fall sick just because you're waiting for me."

Tea rubbed her eyes and replied stubbornly, "No, I'll be fine. I don't want to leave you alone when you're…" Her voice trailed off, as if unsure whether to finish her sentence or otherwise.

He smiled slightly at how considerate she was being. He got up, buttoned his coat and held a hand out to her. "Come on, I'll send you home. Besides, I can't stay overnight at the office anymore." At Tea's pointed look, he added on gruffly, "Mokuba's orders."

Tea had to laugh at that as she took his hand. "Are you sure you're the older brother in the house and not the other way round?"

"We just help look out for each other," he explained softly on the way to his car. "It's been like that all the time. It's not like we have other people to do that for us."

They got into his Lexus and soon they were taking on the roads. Surprisingly, there were more vehicles on the road than usual, but it did not hamper their movements. Plus, Seto's frequent taking of shortcuts helped to save the hassle of traffic lights. It was almost a habit for them to ride in silence, and truth be told, the both of them had started to like it that way. Seto was not exactly fond of driving while talking, and Tea figured that he could focus more on his driving when she kept quiet and not rattling about mundane things. Anyway, at 1am, her mind sort of have dried up of conversation ideas.

The car pulled up at her driveway, and Tea pushed the car door open, but not before reminding him sternly, "Get some sleep when you get home, alright?"

"Fine," he spoke reluctantly. He reached out to touch her face lightly, then placed his hand back on the steering wheel. That was his way of saying goodnight to his girlfriend.

Tea smiled at him before heading back to enter her house. Once the front door closed behind her, Seto took off. _Sleep,_ he snorted. _As if I would be able to get any of it._

He was still furious at Caroline for lying to him, no doubt, and that was expressed by the way he stepped so hard on the accelerator it was a wonder it did not snap. The speedometer ticked past 110km/h, but he was barely aware of it. To be more accurate, he simply could not care less; he was adept enough handling a speeding demon without crashing into anything.

Once he reached his mansion, he quickly parked it in his garage and got inside the main house. As expected, all the lights were off, and everyone in the household had retired to bed. Then again, what was expected at nearly 2am? Seto removed his jacket and loosened his tie as he skulked back to his room. It was ironical how deep down, he hated his own house that he oversaw renovations to. He had tried to remove any traces of Gozaburo's reign in the house, but although almost the entire interior was changed, he could still sense his stepfather's presence.

_Even when he's dead, he can't leave me alone,_ Seto scowled as he locked his bedroom door behind him. He thought back to a certain blonde and scowled further. _And even when she's gone, she can't leave me in peace. Snakes, both of them. Have I mentioned how glad I am that they are gone from my life and from my sight?_

Sighing, Seto crossed over to his bed and landed himself face-down on it. The moment he reached his office, he had contemplated infringing immigration databases and try to track Caroline. He even had an impulsive plan in his head: once he found out where she was, he would send a team in, kidnap her, bring her back to Japan and make her watch as he took all her possessions – company, wealth and all – before her very eyes and kick her out homeless on the streets. But did he dare to do so, really?

During his rants, Tea had interjected as subtly as possible and pleaded with him to just forget about all of this. "If you get all riled up at her, then her revenge on you has worked," Tea had said. "Can't you see, Seto? That's precisely how she wants you to act. Show it to her that whatever she's done doesn't affect you. At the very least, make her believe that family isn't your Achilles heel, so she won't use it against you next time."

_I hate it that I love that woman,_ he grumbled to himself. _She always knows how to change my mind and make me see sense._ He thought hard for a while before realization slowly dawned on him. _She made me change to be a better person. Less vengeful, less intense._ He smirked. _But still equally stubborn._

He got up and shuffled towards the shower. _Maybe Tea was right. Maybe I should just let all this go and get on with my life. After all, before Caroline stepped back into my life, it was just me and Mokuba with no other family. Whatever she said or did shouldn't affect me._

XO XO XO XO

"Goodnight, mummy," Seth planted a kiss on his mother's cheek before he snuggled into bed. He turned to his teddy bear beside him and patted its head. "Goodnight Rooroo."

Caroline smiled as she pecked his head and pulled the covers up to his neck. "Goodnight, Superman. Sweet dreams."

She moved as if to get up from beside him, but Seth quickly held the teddy bear up to her face. "Say goodnight to Rooroo. And kiss his head too."

His mother laughed, but quickly humoured her son by tucking the teddy bear into bed as well. Once Seth rolled over and closed his eyes, one hand curled around Rooroo, Caroline got up and sat by at one of the seats. She poured herself a glass of water and stared off into space as she took a sip of her drink.

_How long am I going to hide out here in Milan?_ She questioned herself. _They'll track me down and find me one day. Her eyes shifted over to her sleeping son. And what about Seth? How will his future be like?_

She pulled out a photo from her jacket, and traced her fingers over it. It was taken more or less three years back, before everything changed between them. It was taken at a function which marked their third engagement anniversary, so that made it the latest photo of them together. She was clad in her first Jean-Paul Gaultier gown – strapless black with sequins patterned across it. It provided a stark contrast to her fair skin and blonde waves, but beautifully accentuated her smokey eyes makeup. Seto had on a matching black suit from the same designer. Caroline remembered the function rather well: they had spent most of the evening dancing or walking off on their own. Seto did that simply because he hated those formal events; Caroline did that because it was the only way for her to get away from her father.

She felt her eyes moisten, and quickly blinked as she pocketed the photo. That photo, and the promise it carried along with it, was the only thing from her past that she took with her when she fled to the UK with the reason of studying there. She had given birth to Seth there, and she had managed to keep his birth a secret. Two years there and she had managed to buy a house and afford a full-time housekeeper to help look after Seth everytime she had to shuttle between Japan and UK. Her father had no idea of the presence of a grandson. Perhaps she should have kept it that way. Maybe then her father would not have had a heart attack and died hating her.

She took over her father's empire after that, but with all the wealth back in her hands she just felt more alone than ever. The guilt she felt about having caused her father's death drove her to the pits of depression, and she spent six months away from UK as she sought treatment. Even after the treatment was over, Caroline could not help but realized that nobody cared about her. And all those while, she held Seto true to his word.

She attended every function he went to, in the hopes of trying to trigger his memory into remembering what he promised her. But each time, he shoved her presence away harshly, sometimes hurting her feelings in the process. The love gave way to hate, but very soon the hate gave way to desperation. It was desperation that made her make the announcement of their wedding and her pregnancy unashamed. It was desperation that drove her to do whatever it took for her to get married to him.

"Mummy, why aren't you sleeping?" Seth suddenly appeared by her side, tugging at her arm as he whined. "I want you to sleep beside me. Mummy. Please. Mummy. Mummy."

Caroline sighed, patted her son's head and led him to the bed. Maybe sleep would be the escape she needed from the ever-growing guilt imposing itself on her soul.

XO XO XO XO

A week later, Seto Kaiba strolled into his office a contented man, or as contented as he could ever be. He even greeted Misa sincerely, something that he rarely did. He set his briefcase on his desk, and set to work. The basic design for the Spongebob game was almost ready; it only required a few tweaking here and there before it could be presented to the board and handed over to the technology crew to work on. Seto was rather relieved the project could be passed on to his employees soon; he has had enough of watching videos of a sponge and a starfish running around a field in the sea catching jellyfishes. Not to mention the money-minded crab employee and a grouchy squid neighbour. As much as he hated to admit it, he could see his similarities with the squid.

Naturally, Mokuba was the more enthusiastic of the two of them. While Seto forced himself to painfully watch two episodes of the show, Mokuba had his backside glued to the couch and his eyes connected to the flat screen television in Seto's study as he spent hours watching half a season of the cartoon show. Seto had to finally step in, unplug the television and marched Mokuba to bed. The tactic worked for the first few days. But when Tea dropped by the mansion, Mokuba had dragged her to join him in watching the show and she had obliged. Seto's threat to destroy the TV set went unnoticed after that.

He switched on the computer and waited for it to load. Meanwhile, he leaned back in his chair and recalled his schedule for the day. He was relatively free today, with the only events awaiting him being a short meeting with Groering who had requested to see the draft of the game before he headed back to Germany and Mokuba's annual meet-the-parents session. The latter tended to be a complete waste of his time: there was nothing much for the teachers to comment about Mokuba except his occasional slipping results or the rare case of him getting into trouble at school. Seto could barely understand why the teachers seemed to be afraid of telling him the truth about Mokuba. Sure, sometimes he irked them, but he had enough sense as a parent to reprimand Mokuba when required.

His desk phone beeped, and Misa appeared on the screen. "Mr Kaiba, a letter came in for you just now. Would you like it to have it now?"

Seto frowned. "A letter? From who?"

Misa shrugged. "It's not stated. Do you want it now?"

"Bring it in," he stated, completely disinterested in what the letter actually was. If it was a resignation letter from one of his employees, then it could provide him some entertainment. After all, people did not resign from KaibaCorp; KaibaCorp fired them. "And green tea today instead of coffee, please."

"Right away, sir," Misa clicked off and set about to do what her employer ordered. Five minutes later she popped into the office and carefully set the tea and envelope on his desk. "Anything else, Mr Kaiba?"

Seto shook his head. "No, that's all." Misa shrugged and trotted out of the office. Once she was gone, Seto picked up the envelope and frowned at the stamp. "Air mail from Italy?"

Without waiting further, he tore it open and several sheets of notepad paper fell out onto his desk. Luckily, they were numbered and soon Seto had them arranged in order:

_I thought I was able to keep on this lie, but it's haunting me. Seto, before anything, I plead forgiveness from you. I'm sorry to have lied to you about my son's death. I know you'll probably hate me for that. You have to understand, I had to do that to allow myself to start life anew, and you to carry on with yours._

_There were a few things I lied to you about, and more of which I did not. My pregnancy after our first time was true. Me trying to contact you to no avail following that was true. Me wanting to get you for my own selfish reasons was true. Me being truly sorry for trying to edge back into your life was true. My self-imposed exile from Japan was true. Me saying that I loved you, that was true as well._

_My biggest lie to you is my son's death. Seto, I beg you to please forgive me for hiding the truth from you all this while. My son is alive, and he's with me. Seth has always been with me all this while._

_After my pregnancy, I fled to London and continued my education there. I gave birth to Seth there, and I made sure that nobody knew about his existence. I bought some property, and Seth grew up there, mostly under my care, sometimes under the nanny's care when I had to return to Japan._

_For the past few months, he had been with me in Japan. I wanted to give him the perfect family that he had been wanting, and that was why I worked so hard to get you. You could call my actions unashamed, and I will not regret any of that because I didn't care how I did it, Seto. I just wanted the results to be on my side. The day after the wedding was supposed to be Seth's birthday, and I had pictured just how perfect his present would be: to have his father be his father._

_But when the wedding didn't turn out, I knew I had to rethink my plan. When we nearly did it for the second time, I was crying not because I remembered about my 'abortion', but because it killed me inside to have to lie to you about my son._

_I just wrote this note simply to get rid of this guilt feeling. I had made up my mind to never let you know about Seth's existence, but I changed my mind and realized I could only forgive myself if I tell you the truth. But now that you know about it, I want you to leave my son and me alone. Lead your own life, and let us lead ours in peace. We made do without your presence all this while, and we would have no problem carrying on like that._

Like I said, I wrote this note out of guilt. I'm not expecting and I do not want your sympathy or you yourself to step in and change this part of my life too. Forget me, and forget Seth. That's all I'm asking of you.

Seto sank back into his chair in a daze. Just when he was coming to terms with Caroline's lies, she sprang another one on him? He reread the sentence: _My son is alive, and he's with me. _Seto gritted his teeth as he gathered all the hate he could muster and directed it at her. How could she make a mockery out of something like this? How could she make a mockery out of her own flesh and blood? His flesh and blood, especially. He shouted out an entire string of expletives directed at his ex-fiancee.

_My son is alive_, the realization sank in. _And he's named just like how I wanted him to be named. My son is alive. I'm a father!_ His features hardened. _I'm taking my son back. He doesn't deserve to be living with a woman of no moral integrity like her._

He pressed a button to scan his phone directory, and chose one of it. "I'd like to make a report to the Interpol."

XO XO XO XO

Tea's reaction was equal to his. In fact, she seemed more furious than he was after he read the letter. She resisted the urge to tear up the already crushed letter as she fumed, "How can a person be so despicable by lying about their own child's death? And all of that just to get back at you? Seto, she's nuts! Absolutely nuts!"

Seto had rang her up shortly after he read the letter, and Tea had dashed down to his office to see what her boyfriend was getting so riled up about. She was prepared for something trivial and her level head could knock sense back into his head. But now that she knew what it was, sense was the last thing on her mind.

"I'm taking my son back to stay with me," Seto said matter-of-factly. "I'll find a way to explain to Mokuba. Anyway, I've already settled the issue about Caroline."

"Well, you'd better," Tea replied darkly. Suddenly she turned to stare at him. "What do you mean, you've already settled Caroline?"

Seto said nothing. Tea rushed up to his side and demanded, "Seto, what did you do?" Still, he remained silent and Tea shook his shoulder as she demanded again, "Seto, what have you done?"

Her boyfriend shrugged as he said indifferently, "I just gave the tip-off. But let's just say by the time she gets out, Seth would have probably forgotten all about her."

"You're sending her to jail?" Tea asked out loud incredulously. Her fury was now turned on him. "Seto, she's not a dangerous criminal! Sure, she lied to you plenty of times, but she just lied. She didn't endanger your life! Jeez, Seto. She's just sick, not a criminal!"

Seto snorted. "Let me see… slander, threats, possession of illegal citizenship, connections to illegitimate mafia businesses. Of course she's not a criminal."

Tea glared at him pointedly. "Seto, we all know the mafia thing was something left behind by her father. She probably overlooked it."

"Why are you trying to defend her?" Seto snapped. "Weren't you equally pissed at her, or was just that an act to make me feel good?"

"I _am_ mad at her," Tea defended herself heatedly. Now why was the blame pushed on her? Who was the one doing the stupid thing here, anyway? "But I just don't like the way you settled her. She's not a threat to anyone, Seto. She even said here she wants to start life anew. Are you just sending her to prison so that she could be separated from Seth?"

"Tea, I'm not as low as her," Seto shot back coldly. "She broke the law, so she has to pay for it."

Tea was incensed at his stubbornness. "And you've never done that?" Seto glared at her. "I know you've done that too. Possibly more times than her. Did anyone drag you to court to have you sentenced for your wrongdoings just to spite you?"

"I don't want to argue with you," Seto retorted simply.

"Me either!" Tea replied in exasperation. "But surely there could have been a better way to settle things? Caroline doesn't need jail term, Seto." Her voice softened as she carried on, "She needs treatment. She needs support. I'm a woman, I understand how she must have felt all these years. She's all alone raising Seth. No one to turn to, because she kept his birth a secret. No one to listen to her, because no one knew about Seth."

Seto appeared pensive for a while before he spoke, "The damage's been done. But I'll send her the best lawyer I can find." He looked up at Tea. "And can we stop fighting now?"

Tea smiled slightly. "Who said anything about fighting? I believe we were debating. Have you ever heard of the phrase kiss and make up?"

XO XO XO XO

"_He never stopped blaming me for my mother's death," she sobbed into his shirt. "If I could turn back time, I would turn it back so I wouldn't have been born, and Mother wouldn't have died and Father would have been happy till this day. He won't be so full of hate as he is now."_

_He cradled her closer to his chest, and hushed her to stop blaming herself. He stroked her hair gently as he murmured to her, "It's not your fault, Carol. You never asked for it to happen."_

_She looked up at him tearingly. "I feel so alone in the house, Seto. I only have my father as family, and he hates me. I can't face this anymore, I can't take this anymore!"_

"_Carol, shh…" His fingers gently wiped off the tears streaking her face as he said soothingly. "I'll always be here for you, I promise." He held up their intertwined hands. "This ring is a symbol of my promise to you, remember?"_

_She had looked down at the rings adorning their fingers, and cried. Suddenly she found his lips kissing her tears away as he ran a hand through her hair. He tilted her head back slightly and carefully placed his mouth on hers, the kiss intensifying by a level with every second. She shivered as he breathed into her ear, "I promise I'll never leave you and I'll always protect you, Carol, because from now on, I'm yours."_

_She could barely think as she let him lean slowly onto her. She barely stopped his hand when he unzipped her skirt, instead frantically savouring the protection that he was offering her in his kiss…_

Caroline woke up with a start and without warning she cried. The incident in the limo had started becoming a nightmare to her. She had been so stupid, desperate to believe in whatever hope he offered. She had wanted sanctuary so badly at that time, and she gullibly believed his words, entrusting him with whatever she had. After they did it, he had told her he loved her. Again, she believed him.

It took her three years, a son and failed wedding to make her realize that she was not as important to him as she thought herself to be. Maybe his takeover of KaibaCorp was to blame. Or maybe she did not really matter that much to him from the start.

She barely noticed that her crying woke her son up. Seth sat up groggily as he shook her arm, "Mummy, why are you crying?"

Caroline hastily wiped her tears with the back of her hands as she turned to face him. "No, I'm not crying. Come on, let's get back to sleep. Rooroo is fast asleep, so why aren't you?"

"Are you crying because you're thinking of Daddy?"

Caroline bit her lip to stop her tears as she shook her head. "Come on, Sethy, back to sleep."

"Is it because Daddy doesn't love us?" Apparently, her son was smarter than she thought.

"No, honey, Daddy loves you," She replied as firmly as possible. "Now, Seto, please. Get to sleep."

Her son's eyes widened. "Is that Daddy's name?"

"Seth, back to sleep," Caroline took on a harsher tone on her son to follow her orders, and it worked. When Caroline got back to sleep, it was thankfully dreamless.

She awoke to loud knockings on the door. Frowning, she got up and saw that the digital bedside clock read 6am. Who could that be? Regardless, she slowly crawled out of bed and proceeded to open the door. The sight of two suited men at the door was enough to stun her.

"Miss Donata Carzioli?" One of the men asked.

"Y-Yes," Caroline stammered, confused.

The man reached into his pocket and held out a badge. "We're from the Interpol, and we have received orders to arrest you for multiple charges which we have confirmed after a tip-off."

She blanched. _Seto, how could you …_

XO XO XO XO

**Eight months later…**

"Mummy!" the familiar child-like voice could be heard even before he reached the front door. He bolted into his mother's outstretched arms and hugged her tightly. "I miss you!"

"Seth! I miss you too," Caroline muttered as she hugged her son back tightly. She held him at arm's length to take a good look at him and smiled affectionately. "My, how you've grown."

"I know!" He admitted happily, baring his teeth. "See? I've lost a tooth too! Mama Tea says that's cos the tooth fairy want to give me a shiny new one, but it hasn't come yet."

Outwardly, Caroline laughed at her son's blabbering. Inwardly, she could not help but feel a stab of jealousy. _Mama Tea? Are they married? Living together?_

The person in question got out of the limousine and walked up to Caroline. The two girls greeted each other, and then Caroline invited her to come along with her and Seth to the garden patio. Tea obliged. However, she noticed Caroline frequently peering past her shoulder as they walked to the garden, as if trying to take a peek into the limousine. Tea placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered apologetically, "He's not here. I tried to convince him to come along, but I'm sorry, Carol."

The blonde shook her head and shrugged as she smiled. "It's okay. I know he can't forgive me for lying to him. Just like I can't quite forgive him for abandoning me and Seth." She shifted her attention to Tea. "Anyway, Seth seems to have taken quite a liking to you. Mama Tea, huh?"

Tea smiled uncomfortably as she sat down beside Caroline. "I told him not to call me that. It makes me feel old."

"Mummy! I want to show you what I've drawn!" Seth interjected excitedly, shoving a piece of paper into Caroline's hands. "Is it nice? Is it nice?"

"Wow, Seth, this is great!" She held an arm outstretched, and Seth clambered onto her lap. Caroline pointed to the drawings with her free hand. "But what's this supposed to be?"

Seth happily pointed out each of his drawings. "That's me. That's you. That's Mama Tea. That's zio Mokuba. And that's Daddy. And you're all my family!" He frowned as he looked at her. "Mummy, is Fafa still inside?"

"Y-yeah. He's somewhere in the kitchen, I think."

Seth slid down from her lap and ran into the house to visit his pet cat, leaving his mother with Tea. Keeping her eyes on Seth, she asked Tea, "Is Seth happy there?"

"I… I suppose so.."

"Don't suppose, Tea. Be sure," Caroline retorted rather harshly. "I'm indebted to you for convincing your boyfriend to remove the charges on me and instead fight for Seth's custody, and I accepted my defeat graciously. And just because Seth took a liking to you doesn't mean I'll just stand by and watch if my son isn't happy with a parent he's never met. Is Seth happy there?"

"Caroline, trust Seto with your son," Tea replied softly. "And to answer your question, yes, Seth is as happy there as he is with you now." She offered Caroline a smile. "He's grown to be more independent there, you know. Seto said that last week Seth could tie his own shoes."

The blonde CEO of Lobo Industries frowned. "But Seth prefers shoes with Velcro straps."

"He does," Tea assured her. "It's just that sometimes he likes to copy Mokuba's style. Which is definitely better than Seto's."

Caroline seemed to relax at her explanation. "I see." She eyed Tea suspiciously. "Are you living with Seto?"

Tea stared at her in shock. "Of course not! I just drop by their house frequently. I don't see Seto as much nowadays as before, anyway. But he still made a point to call, so it's okay." She sighed. "After all, I'm caught up with a lot of things recently. My friends are dragging me for a two-weeks study camp with them before we all try to sneak some decent grades in during the entrance exams." She looked up at the sky wistfully. "I hope I'll be able to land a scholarship in one of Tokyo's dance school, then from there maybe to New York. That's the only reason why I'm working so hard for this exams."

"Didn't Seto offer to get you into the dance school?"

The brunette shook her head. "I don't want any of his help. It just cheapens my effort."

Caroline laughed as she spoke sincerely, "I don't think he liked that."

"No, he didn't," Tea agreed. "He was hammering on me on how it would ease things for me, but I want to be able to, you know, cram for the exams with my friends. I owed them a lot of friendship quality time. So before they book me all the way till the end of the year, I thought I'd bring Seth here." She regarded Caroline seriously. "Don't be offended, but Carol, are you positively sure you're okay now?"

The blonde let out a bitter laugh. "Three months of intense psychiatrist treatment and regular follow-ups for the next two years. I don't even know why Seto went that far. I'm fine."

_And I want my son back, _she added on in her head. _I want him back with me, living in my house._

Tea caught her gaze and felt she knew what Caroline was thinking about: custody of Seth. She was about to say something when her cellphone rang. Tea answered it to find Seto on the other line. She listened to what he had to say, then hung up with a huge smile on her face. She turned to face Caroline excitedly, "Carol! Guess what? Seto just said that the six months of his custody of Seth is up, so now Seth's under your permanent custody! He gets the agreed thrice a week visit, though."

Caroline gasped. "Are you serious, Tea?"

The brunette nodded. Caroline stared at her for a while, before letting out a shriek. She hugged Tea in excitement, half thanking her and half shrieking out of joy. The cacophony brought Seth out of the house and insistently questioning the two women what had happened.

Caroline scooped him up in her arms and practically yelled out, "Honey, you're going to stay with me again!"

"Wheee!" Seth crowed, pumping a fist into the air like the champion Caroline always said he was. "I get to stay with you! Mummy, you won't leave me again, would you?"

"No, Seth," Caroline promised. "It's going to be you and me forever!"

XO XO XO XO

Tea placed the cup of coffee on his desk as she asked quietly, "Are you okay, Seto?"

The CEO looked up and placed a hand over hers. "Yeah," He remarked sotto voce. "It'll be nice to have Seth stay here with me forever, but … I have to be fair to both Seth and Carol. I know he doesn't say it, but I know Seth wanted to be more with his mother. I can't deny him that, can I?"

His girlfriend soundlessly hugged him from behind and kissed his cheek. "But you'll still get to see him three times a week for however long you want. If you ask me, that's more than the quality time you spent with him so far."

Seto remained silent for a while before grudgingly admitting, "Actually, come to think of it, that's true. Maybe that way I can learn to re-prioritize my life." He stroked her hand. "Maybe that way I can get to spend more time with you, Seth, Mokuba. I think I owe you guys a lot of time."

Tea laughed as she disentagled herself from him. "Well, for starters, you can treat me and Mokuba for a real nice dinner. And then you can let yourself be dragged by the both of us to help you find something to wear to Mischa's wedding next week."

Seto groaned. "I completely forgot about that crazed woman's wedding. Don't ever tell her I forgot, alright?"

"Your secrets are safe with me," she assured him.

He eyed her with a twinkle of mischief in his blue eyes. "So when is it our turn?"

Tea blushed, but stubbornly said, "Wait till I finish dance school, and enter Broadway."

"Oh come on, there's no rule stating that you have to be unmarried to enter dance school," He pressed on.

"Okay, shut up and bring me and Mokuba to dinner."


End file.
